fm 



^m':t^l: 



MMmmimix:iMm!M.min^ 



ON THE ACTION 



OF 



EXAMINATIONS 



CONSIDERED AS A MEANS OF SELECTION. 



HENRY LATHAM, M.A. 

KELLu.V /.NU TUTOK Ol" TI-'l >)lTy >t/\Lf, tAMBKinoF. 



CAMBRIDGE : 
DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. 

LONDON; GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
1877 

[All Rights reserved.^ 






(Hamhviogt : 

PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. 
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



■\ ] 




PREFACE. 



My chief object in writing this book has been to 
introduce some approach to method in the way 
of regarding the action of Examinations. This 
action is complex, and from want of analysis con- 
fusion has sometimes arisen, as I have pointed 
out at the beginning of Chapter v. I must warn 
the reader that this book is not intended as a 
manual of the art of examining, but as an enquiry 
as to what we want to effect by Examinations 
and how far we can succeed. The art of exa- 
mining has made great progress of late. Govern- 
ment as well as University Examinations are 
now conducted with great skill, and we owe to 
the former various valuable expedients in the 
way of marking, allowing alternative questions, 



iv Preface. 

and the like, to which I have referred in Chap. ix. 
on " Marking and Classing." 

I should have spoken more particularly than 
I have done of the Examination for Selection for 
Indian Civil Service appointments, had not a 
change in the Regulations as to age been an- 
nounced while this book was in progress, which 
will require a fresh plan of Examination. 

The changes in the mode of setting and mark- 
ing the papers which have been made from time 
to time have remedied many of the evils which 
existed when I began to write. Half of the 
Selected Candidates may be considered to take 
their stand on subjects which result in a practical 
power, like Classics or Mathematics, and if this 
power is attained there can be little fault to find 
with the teaching, wherever it be got. With 
those, however, who only just succeed, and with 
the many who fail, the educational effects are still 
undesirable. A weak man, under the paramount 
necessity of getting 1200 marks, must "take up" 
what yields an immediate return, though the 
diversity may be distracting to him, and his mental 
build may be such that he should beware of over- 
loading his memory. 

Selection by competitive Examinations has 
many advantages, but it is open to one deep-lying 



Preface. V 

objection. In the proper education of youth for 
active careers, such as is received at a good 
school, instruction and acquirement are much, but 
very far from all, while for a competitive Exami- 
nation they are everything. The boy, to obtain 
the full good out of a healthy school-life, besides 
getting knowledge, ought to grow in character, 
to gain the power "of doing the thing he would" 
and of *' getting on" with other human beings in 
Various relations. No one expects Examinations 
to test this, but we look to find a fair share of 
these qualities in our candidates in addition to the 
acquirements actually tested. But the Examina- 
tion may lead to a system of training which 
checks the growth of those qualities which we 
hoped our selected candidates would possess as 
largely as other people. Boys taken out of school- 
life at fifteen, and stimulated by a morbid con- 
centration of interest on one point, do not expand 
symmetrically — they have become learners and 
nothing else. Now we particularly want genial 
and harmoniously developed young men, and this 
we can only get by ensuring a genial education. 
The difficulties in England in the way of giving 
a preference to certain modes of education are 
great. The most practicable course which I see 
is, to adopt a system of sifting the candidates by 

b 



"VI Preface. 

distinctions which should have been previously 
gained in School, in Local Examinations, or in 
those of the First Year at a University: money is 
now wasted by parents on the preparation of youths 
whose case is hopeless. Certain shortcomings 
have been remarked in the Selected Candidates 
which are such as would arise from the cause 
just indicated, and it has been proposed to in- 
duce them to resort to a University after being 
selected. During this time they would be so 
engaged in their Oriental studies that they would 
be isolated from the rest of the University. They 
might possibly gain " social advantages," though 
if they felt themselves specially sent to look for 
them they would be less likely to find them. If 
at the age of 1 7 or 1 8 they could reside for a year 
at a University, aiming at the Class in the annual 
Examinations which should entitle them to com- 
pete for Selection, they would then become genu- 
ine partakers in University life, they would enter 
into the University spirit, and, if selected, after 
the two subsequent years of technical studies they 
might be enabled in proper course to take a 
University degree (see Appendix C). 

I had to consider whether I should conceive 
myself as addressing professional readers only, in 
jvhich case much explanation could be spared, or 



Preface. vli 

as addressing a wider circle. I have adopted the 
latter course, because society is now generally 
interested in Examinations, and it is desirable 
that their action and the value of their results 
should be properly understood. When too much 
value is attached to a place in an Examination list, 
candidates are rendered morbidly anxious by their 
fear of disappointing their friends, and teachers are 
forced, for their credit, to convey something that 
can be displayed In an Examination, even though, 
as is especially the case with young boys, the 
proper course of teaching must be interfered with 
to effect this object. On the other hand, when 
the verdict of Examinations is slighted, as has 
happened sometimes since the reaction against 
them began, young people harden themselves 
against the rightful punishment of their inatten- 
tion by disparaging the instrument which reveals 
their deficiencies. The more just and discrimi- 
nating public opinion becomes on these points, 
and the better it is understood what the decision 
of an Examination is worth, the less disturbing 
the action of Examinations will be. 

This book has been long in hand, and owing 
to my College engagements it has been very 
interruptedly pursued; indeed a portion of it has 
been in print for some time. I fear that some 

b2 



vili Preface. 

repetition may occur from this cause, but I have 
now and then designedly repeated a remark rather 
than weary the reader with constant references. 
Besides, some readers may only want to refer to 
a single chapter. I have found it one of the 
difficulties in the way of putting this subject into 
shape, that many of the things that had to be 
said might be introduced equally well under 
several heads. The subject does not supply a 
natural order in the mode of dealing with it. 

I had originally intended, instead of confining 
myself mainly to the action of Examinations as 
a means of Selection, to consider them also as ap- 
pliances in Education, but I found that the book 
grew in size, and that circumstances made it de- 
sirable that it should appear at once : I hope 
however to pursue the subject hereafter. I have 
only touched slightly here on Pass Examinations, 
because they serve but little as tests. They affect 
education widely, and call for thorough considera- 
tion from this point of view. 

The historical portion of my book is sub- 
servient to my main object. I have related the 
growth of our Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge 
in order to illustrate the working of the prin- 
ciples I wanted to make clear. I have acknow- 
ledged my obligations to my authorities, I believe, 



Preface. ix 

from time to time in my notes ; but I must here 
mention specially the assistance I have derived 
from Dr Whe well's books on Education, from Dr 
Peacock's work on the Statutes of the University, 
from certain tracts on University matters in the 
works of Dr Jebb, who was Tutor of St Peter's 
College about a century ago, and, in my third 
Chapter especially, to Mr Mullinger's History of 
the University of Cambridge. I find that I was 
misled in attributing the story of "Ego currit" 
passing for grammar among students of the 
middle ages — to Roger Bacon (p. 13 7). My friend 
Mr Luard, the Registrary of the University of 
Cambridge, has pointed it out to me in the 
Annals of Osney, in the 4th Vol. of Annates 
Monastici, published by the Master of the Rolls. 

Like most persons engaged in Education, I 
am under the deepest obligation to Dr Carpenter 
for the instruction derived from his excellent work 
on Mental Physiology; and I am also much 
indebted to the Dean of Lincoln, to Mr Henry 
Sidgwick, to Mr Sayce, to Mr Wilson of Rugby, 
as well as to various writers in the Quarterly 
Journal of Education, for valuable information 
and suggestions. 

I have made large use of the Evidence given 
to the University Commissions of 1854 — 60, and 



X Preface, 

I have thought it so desirable that the views of 
the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction 
and the advancement of Science, should be ac- 
cessible to my readers, that I have given large 
extracts from their Third Report, issued in 1873, 
in the form of an Appendix. 



Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 
Aiigitsf, 1877. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Spread of the Examination system. Its effects, p. i. Two pur- 
poses of Examinations, Selection arid Education, p. 3. Liberal 
and Technical Education, page 5. " Cramming," p. 7. Ex- 
aminations may be subordinate to teaching, or teaching to 
Examinations, p. 11. Subjects may be ill suited for Exami- 
nation yet cannot be omitted, p. 13. Examinations called into 
use by present circumstances, p. 16. They may be good for 
youths, but bad for men, p. 19. Neglect of their educational 
effects, p. 20. Reaction against them, often unreasonable, p, 21. 

CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ACTION OF EXAMINATIONS. 

Competitive Examinations do for the young what the struggle of 
life does for older persons] p. 26. Two objects in Education, to 
form the mind and to fill' it, p, 29. Qualifying Examinations 
supply the place of authority, p. 31. Need of stimulants im- 
plies imperfection, p. 32. An important Examination calls for 
effort, p. 35. Good moral effect of making one or two great 
efforts, p. -^6. Use of Examinations for dispensing patronage, 
p. 40. Advantageous for the lower appointments, p. 43. Of 
mixed effect when used for the higher ones, p. 45. Compulsoiy 
Examinations required under existing circumstances, p. 49. 
Difficulties, p, 52. The way to get marks may not be the 
way to profit by learning, p. 53. "Free work," its moral value, 
p. 55. Parental indulgence makes Examinations more needed, 



xll Contents. 



p. 56. The like case in France, and in Germany, p. 61. Com- 
pulsory Military Service an aid to the School-master, p. 63. 
Independence of German teachers greater than that of French 
ones, p. 64. Inducements to high cultivation in England, 
p. 67. Illustration from Cattle Show, p. 71. Part of the pay 
of the Indian Civil Servants goes to the teacher, p. 72. 
Essay writing as a mode of Examination (see also Chap, vi.), 
P-75- 

CHAPTER III. 

HISTORICAL NOTICES. DISPUTATIONS. 

State of things in Europe when Universities arose, p. 'JT. Univer- 
sity of Bologna, p. 81 ; of Paris, 83. College system at Paris, 
p. 84. Technical sense of word "Arts" important, p. 84. 
Two classes of subjects, those which enable a man to do some- 
thing answer to " Arts," those which only supply knowledge 
to "Sciences," in old sense of the words, p. 86. Disputation 
system gave a conventional form to study, p. 91. First teach- 
ing at Universities not Professorial, but a system of mutual 
instruction, p. 92. Institution of Degrees, p. 93. They, im- 
plied always a right to teach, p. 93. Disputation offered a 
field for distinction, p. 97. The number of students at Univer- 
sities, p. 100. Effect of B.A. Degree being generally sought 
for, p. 102. Public interest in disputations, p. 104. They 
threw all learning into a dialectic form; effects of this, p. 106. 
They kept authority before men's minds too much, p. 110., 
Change produced by Reformation in subjects of Disputations 
not in \h€\r fomi, p. 114. Decline of knowledge of Latin, 
p. 117. Rise of Physical Science, stage in which it could be 
used for Disputations, p. 119. Abohtion of Disputations in 
England, p. 120. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CAMBRIDGE MATHEMATICAL TRIFOS. 

Mathematical Tripos ; why chosen as an Example of Examination 
action, p. 123. Definition of the term Competitive, p. 124. 



Content's. xill 



How an Order of Merit came to be adopted, p, 125. What 
facilitated this, p. 126. Name of "Tripos," p. 128. Mode of 
proceeding on "Tripos" Day, p. 129. Date of Tripos List, 
p. 133. Proceedings for B.A. Degree a century ago, p. 134. 
Fellowships came to be given by the Tripos ; importance of 
this, p. 140. Complaints of neglect of lower subjects, p. 143. 
Grace of 1779, p. 144. Contest between the two objects, Selec- 
tion and Education, p. 148. Regulations of 1837, which came 
. into operation in 1839, p. 149. Mathematical Tripos in its 
complete form, p. 151. Use in extinguishing jobbery, p. 152, 
Old "Cambridge Tripos" contrasted with the "Mathematical 
Tripos," p. 154. Great names, p. 158. Excessive influence of 
Tripos, p. 162. Teaching adapted to Examinations, p. 163. 
Private tuition and Mr William Hopkins, p. 165. Objections 
to private tuition, p. 168. Need for it in Mathematics at the 
time, p. 171. Analytical and Synthetical methods, p. 172, 
What Mathematics are taught _/^r, p. 176. Objects different 
with able students and weak ones, p. 178. Viva voce Exami- 
nations, p. 179. Regulations of 1848, p. 181. Universities, 
seats of learning and places of education, p. 183. Educational 
interest and scientific interest, p. 184. Scheme of 1873 ; a 
liberal education combined with a technically scientific one, 
p. 186. Evils of great extent of course, p. 188. Proposals to 
divide it into two, viz. an educational Examination con- 
taining the subjects most fit for training, and a scientific one 
comprising those wanted for research, p. 190. Nature of the 
higher Examination, viva voce, p. 193. Conclusion. Evidence 
of Mr W. Hopkins, p. 196. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE FUNCTIONS OF EXAMINATIONS. SELECTION 
{on score of ability). 

First thing to settle, what do we want our scheme to do ? How far 
can Examinations effect it? p. 199. Examinations used for 
selection affect education and vice versa, p. 201. Competition, 
how justified, p. 203. Parcelling out of the subject, p. 204. 
We may want to use the man or his knowledge, p. 205. Know- 



XIV Contents, 



ledge and ability are blended, p. 206. Indian Examinations 
used as an illustration, p. 210. Case taken, the finding of the 
ablest man, p, 212. What do we mean by ability, p. 216. 
Constituents of the ability recognized by Examination, p. 218. 
Special skill required to gauge ability, p. 219. Volitional and 
automatic actions, p. 220. Memory. Its varieties. Portative, 
Analytical, Assimilative and Index Memory, p. 223. " Cram," 
p. 229. Analytical Memory, p. 230. Set Subjects, p. 231. 
Difficulty attaching to them in competition, p. 232. Use of 
Educational Examinations as sifters for Selection ; value of 
Set subjects, danger of " Cram," p, 235. There is a change in 
the kind of merit as well as in the degree, p. 237. Assimilated 
knowledge the proper field for competition, p. 239. Subjects 
which yield an " Art " and those which only furnish informa- 
tion, p. 241. The former best for our purpose, p. 242. Students 
reach a terminal excellence in them, p, 243. Criterion of 
mental power, p. 245. Minds differ in receptivity of impres- 
sions, p. 246. Able men lay hold of the niceties which others 
miss, p. 247. This comes out in Examination, p. 248. Mental 
field of view, p. 249. Imagination, p. 251. Volitional and 
automatic, p. 252. Extract from evidence of Mr R. L. Ellis, 
p. 254. Dramatic power not tested by Examinations, p. 256. 
Fertility of mind, p. 257, How to be discovered, p. 260. 
Essay Writing, p. 261. Essays shew (i) what a man has to 
say ; (2) how he can say it, p, 262. We may be misled by 
"original views," p. 263. How Essays may best be used, 
p. 265. Cases of exceptional action, some persons too honest to 
make believe, p. 266. Over fertile in thoughts, p. 269. Diffi- 
culties that come of special preparation, p. 271. Style, p. 272. 
What the EngHsh Essay effects, p. 275 — 279. Limitation of 
time, p. 280. Essays written with ample time and with access 
to authorities often afford the best kind of Examination for 
the older class of students, p. 287. Reasoning power, p. 288. 
Problems not an unfailing test of cleverness, p. 290. How to 
detect simulated knowledge, p. 293. Moral science and kin- 
dred subjects present greater difficulties, p. 294. To judge of 
ability we must not be bound to award marks for all that is 
correct, p. 299. What Examinations cannot tell us, p. 300. 
As, power of dealing with men, p. 301, Taste for research, 



Contents. xv 



p. 302. How to judge of progressive condition, p. 305. Evil of 
specialising study overmuch, p. 307. In what subjects does 
excellence shew most ability, and why?, p. 309. Mathematics, 
Classics, Law, History, and Moral and Natural Science con- 
sidered, p. 310. A subject to be effective must admit of a 
definite right and, wrong, p. 313 ; and depend on principles 
rather than on instances, p. 315. To do well in any good Exami- 
nation shews a certain power, p. 316, Classification of studies 
according to mterest in 7nen, objects, or abstractions, p. 318. 
Studies should supplement one another in these respects, 
p. 320. We cannot place men in order of ability, p. 321. Great 
plateau of mediocrity, p. 322. Intennixture of effects, p. 323, 
We must not conclude that one who does not distinguish him- 
self will not do well in life, p. 325. We might learn from Uni- 
versity Statistics how far distinction in life had gone with that 
obtained in various kinds of study, p. 327. 

CHAPTER VI. 

EXAMINATIONS AS A TEST OF KNOWLEDGE. 

First use of Examinations was to ascertain knowledge, p. "^yi. 
Such Examinations appended to courses of apprenticeship, 
p. 331. Pupils were obliged to spend a certain time in learning; 
this some guarantee that the knowledge would last, p, 333. 
Professional Examinations ; students want to learn,, and their 
knowledge is kept up, p. 334. Three points to be ascertained 
as regards knowledge, p. 338. I. Compass of the knowledge. 
Contrast between subjects which result in a faculty of doing 
something, and those which only furnish knowledge, p. 339. 
Subjects ; mostly contain principles and facts, p. 342. In 
History, framework of events answers to a principle, p. 344. 
Moderate knowledge of Experimental Science, p. 347. Its 
value for educational purposes, p. 348. II. Different sorts 
of knowledge, p. 349. Knowledge may be serviceable, or 
only educational, or wholly artificial, p. 352. Educational or 
Student-knowledge, p. 353. In Mathematics, p. 356, In 
Historical Subjects, p. 357. Artificial knowledge, p. 358. 
English LiteraturCj p, 360.. III. Permanency of the know- 



xvi Contents. 



ledge, p. 363. ''Art" subjects, p. 364. Information subjects, 
p. 365. Conditions favourable for remembering what is learnt, 
p. 366. The matter must make a strong impression, p. 366. 
Should be frequently recalled, p. 367. Must not be dismissed 
as done with, p. 367. It must form a whole, p. 368. Must be 
compacted together by principles, p. 370, Review of conclu- 
sions, p. 372. Modern Languages acquired for use, not for 
training, p. 374. Ill adapted for competition, p. 375. Advan- 
tage of foreign education, p. 2>1^' Mode of dealing with 
the difficulty, p. -yn. Small need of actual knowledge in 
business of life, p. 378. Advantages of Examinations at- 
tached to a course, p. 380. How are different kinds of know- 
ledge to be valued? p. 381. Some are at the end of a ladder of 
learning, p. 382. Length of time required for learning, p. 383. 
Relative ability, p. 385. When certain knowledge is a sine qua 
non it should be exacted in a qualifying Examination, p. 387. 
Effect of over marking or under marking a subject, p. 390. 
Pass or Qualifying Examinations, p. 393. Are for the rich 
what the School Board is for the poor, p. 394. They mainly 
afford training, but a residuum remains, p. 395. " Set subjects" 
in languages, useless as criteria of knowledge of language, 
p. 397. Translation of " unseen passages," needed in language 
Examinations; Dictionary may be allowed, p. 398. Value of 
education for weak men lies less in acquirement than in 
formation of habits, p. 400. Review of results of Chapter, 
p. 401. When we want to know What^ and when. How a 
man has learned, p. 402. Practical conclusions, p. 403. Ex- 
aminations subordinated to teaching may effect what we need 
in the way of selection, p. 403. Competitions should not be 
imposed after twenty-two years of age, p. 404. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PRIZE EMOLUMENTS IN EDUCATION. 

Motives for study, p. 406. Highest kind of cultivation not directly 
remunerative, p. 408. Endowments which foster education not 
eleemosynary, because society gets a quid pro quo, p. 410, 



Contents. xvii 



Application of endowments to cheapen Professional education, 
p. 412. Fellowships at present the mainspring of our Higher 
Education, p. 413. The Examinations which lead to them 
control Education, p. 414. If they aim only at picking out the 
cleverest men they may be mischievous, p. 415. The contrast 
between "Open Examinations" for Scholarships at College 
and School Examinations, p. 418. How far can Examinations 
framed with an educational view be used for selection ? p. 420. 
School or University Examinations should be used to sift the 
candidates for Government posts, p. 423. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EXAMINATIONS FOR COLLEGE FELLOWSHIPS AND 
SCHOLARSHIPS. 

Functions fulfilled by Fellowships : (i) They recompense stu- 
dents. (2) They serve as " ladders " for poor men to rise by. 
(3) They serve as part payment of teachers. (4) The Fellows 
form the Governing Body of the College, p. 424. These func- 
tions may be incongruous, and should be assigned to different 
classes of Fellowships, p. 426. Historical sketch of Fellow- 
ships, p. 427. Modes of electing Fellows, p. 429. By Open 
Special Examinations, or by University Examinations, p. 430. 
Objections to both systems, p. 432. Plan proposed. Leading 
objects with a College, to induce able young men to pursue the 
higher studies, and to obtain a good Governing Body, p. 435. 
Prize Studentships as pure Rewards, p. 436. Fellowships should 
be endowments of College offices or of proved distinction. The 
Fellows should form the Governing Body, p. 437. Professional 
training needs less encouragement than liberal study, p. 440. 
Mischief of making University distinction of excessive import- 
ance, p. 442. Studentships might be given by this criterion, 
but not Fellowships, p. 443. University educational Examina- 
tions, proposed plan, p. 444. Further examination for those 
who intend to pursue science or literature as avocation, p. 445. 
Proportion of funds to be spent in rewards and in providing 
leaching, p. 446. Love of learning "for its own sake," p. 450. 



xviii Contents. 



How our Fellowships act, p. 452. How the problems before 
us are met in Germany, p. 454. College Scholarships, p. 459, 
(i) used as Prizes to give life to College work; (2) as modes 
of purchasing clever men for the College, p. 460. Open Scho- 
larships given before residence, p. 464, Rise of the system, 
p. 464, Condemnation of it by Mr Wilson of Rugby, p. 465. 
Scholarships given for special branches of knowledge, p. 467. 
Mercenary spirit, p. 468. Practical difficulties in dropping the 
plan — disappointment of the expectant class, p. 469. No Col- 
lege can cease to offer such inducements unless all the rest do, 
p. 470. Palliatives that may be applied to existing system, 
p. 471. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ON MARKING AND CLASSING. 

Deciding by " marks " and judging by " impression," p. 473. List 
arranged by number of marks, p. 477. Result depending on 
the votes of Examiners, p. 477. Marks most easily assigned 
in Mathematics, p. 478 (note). On the advantage obtained by 
"training" for display in Examinations, p. 479. Distribution of 
marks, p. 480. Judging by impression, p. 481. Reasons for 
difference between results of marking and of impression, p. 482. 
How it may be reduced, p. 484. Time allowed for papers, 
p. 485. Mathematical Problem paper, p. 486. Plan for com- 
bining scores in various subjects, p. 490. Conflicting advan- 
tages of alphabetical arrangement, and one in order of merit, 
p. 493. An order of merit is practically of service, p. 494, but 
not equally practicable in all subjects, p. 495. This difficulty 
may be measured. Index 0/ l7ideterminate?iess, ^p. /i,()6. How 
to be found for various subjects, p. 497. Division of List into 
Classes, p. 499. Objections to an order of merit considered, 
p. 500. Some of them dependent on excessive range of exa- 
mination, p. 504. Alphabetical Class List : strain falls on 
those who are uncertain about their class, p. 508. First Class 
alphabetical; others in order of merit, p. 509. Classing 



Contejits. xlx 



together men of different standing, p. 510, possible expe- 
dient, p. 511, vivd voce, p. 512. Expense of Examinations, 
p. 513. Pass Examinations, standard of marks for passing, 
one for each subject, and another for the aggregate, p. 514. 
Pass Examinations have two objects, to sift out incapacity and 
to map out a course for the less studious, p. 515 ; acquirements 
less to be looked for than mental occupation and discipline, 
p. 515. Need of time for forming habits, p. 516. For7n of the 
subjects important ; can we ensure that the student reads the 
whole book, p. 516. German plan — suggestion, p. 517. A 
Pass course a test of moral qualities, resolution, and conduct, 
p. 517. Free scope for the individual the essence of University 
life, p. 517. Youths at home or at school may be made to pass 
University Examinations, but they are not University men, 
p. 518. Character remains folded up. All that is shewn is 
mere power of learning, p. 518. 



APPENDIX A. 

PROPOSED CHANGES WITH RESPECT TO FELLOWSHIPS 
IN COLLEGE STATUTES. 

Fellows, how elected at present, p. 519. Extracts from Reports of 
Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction. Sects. 164, 165, 
p. 520. Observations, Extract, Sects. 139 — 159, p. 521. Re- 
marks, p. 529. Need of Examination Halls, Lecture Rooms, 
and College buildings, p. 531. Notice of the lodging difficulty, 
p. 532. Remarks on Sect. 158, p. 533. 



APPENDIX B. 

ON FELLOWSHIPS AS ''LADDERS." 

Account of an Article by Mr Henry Sidgwick, of Trinity College, 
on "Idle Fellowships." Contemporary Review, April, 1876, 
p. 534. Agreement with general tenour, p. 535 ; up to what 
point, p. 536. 



XX 



Contents. 



APPENDIX C. 

NOTES ON PROFESSORIAL TEACHING. 

Professorial system — Is there such a thing? p. 538. Savants and 
Teachers, 539. Lectures, ex cathedra, like scientific papers, 
catechetical, which aim at teaching, experimental, p. 540. 
Students want continuous direction, p. 541. Professors may 
do good work without lecturing to Students, p. 542. University 
Fellowships as Pensions for research, p. 543. Provision for 
Candidates for Indian Civil Service, p. 543. 



ERRATA. 



ge 5, line 10 from top, for " schooltime" read " school term." 

15, ,, 15 ,, dele "generally." 

72, ,, 3 from bottom, /or "in" read "into." 

88, ,, 5 from top, /or "guage" read "gauge." 

128, ,, 4 ,, dele "the." 

149, ,, 3 from bottom, add " which came into operation in 1839." 

3S9, ,, 6 from top, /or "Art subjects" read "that of Art subjects." 

398, ,, 16 ,, yjir "Examination" r^a^ "an Examination." 

472, ,, 4 ,, /£7r "them" r^a^ "Sizarships." 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Within the last thirty years the agency of Exa- 
minations has worked a revolution in the whole 
province of Education. 

Examinations more or less competitive now 
stand at the entrance to many professions ; they 
are the only means of access to Military, Naval 
or Civil Service appointments ; and both at school 
and college valuable monetary help is to be ac- 
quired by success in the examination-room. The 
result is that a clever boy begins to earn his 
livelihood when he is about fourteen. To excel 
in examination is a profitable art; it may be 
called a Profession in itself, and parents and sons 
consider together as to the best training for this 
professional course and the best markets for at- 

L. I 



2 On the Action of Examinations 

tainments. Young people have often a keener 
perception In such matters than their fathers have, 
and thus one indirect effect of this system is to 
bring about what has been remarked as a feature 
of our time — the growing independence of paren- 
tal authority on the part of the rising generation. 
Such independence in the case of an able young- 
ster who is thus beginning to earn his own bread 
may not be injurious ; he may be of too fine a 
nature to fail in filial respect or affection ; but this 
independent spirit may spread to others so as to 
vv^eaken authority in a way that we should lament. 
I have touched on this point, because it shews 
how Examinations make their influence felt in 
reofions which seem out of their domain. 

I shall hereafter shew how an Examination 
system is from its nature an encroaching power, 
how it influences the prevalent views of life and 
work among young men, and how it affects 
parents, teachers, the writers of educational books, 
and the notions of the public about education. But 
before proceeding further, we have to draw some 
distinctions with a view of arriving at something 
like order in dealing with a very tangled subject. 
Examinations are used for many purposes, and 
many of the difficulties and evils connected with 
their use arise from the attempt of those who 



in the Higher Education. 



frame the Examinations, either to effect too many 
things by one instrument ; as, for instance, to pick 
out the most proficient, to reject the dunces, and 
to give an impetus to a certain kind of study all 
by the same series of papers ; or from their not 
having a clear view of what they are aiming at. 

We may discriminate two kinds of action as 
being very distinct, and though most Examina- 
tions will act more or less in both ways at once, 
yet we can consider the two kinds of action 
separately ; and it will be serviceable to us, in this 
rough attempt to consider Examinations system- 
atically, to lay down two heads of classification, 
according to the object for which they are espe- 
cially used, . 

We shall have then : 
(i) That in which the object is to select the 
most suitable persons for a certain purpose, or the 
men of most general ability. 

(2) That in which the object is purely edu- 
cational. 

The view of Examinations which has led to 
their great extension of late is that which is placed 
under head (i). From the success at the Univer- 
sities of Examinations as a means of awarding dis- 
tinctions and emoluments with perfect impartiality, 
they were brought into use as a means of disposing 

I — 2 



4 On the Action of Examinations 

of all kinds of appointments. It was not taken 
into consideration that this instrument, which on 
the whole seemed to decide so justly, was acting 
at the Universities under particular conditions ; 
that it dealt only with young men who were under 
similar circumstances, and had had nearly similar 
advantages, and that the branches of study to 
which it had been so successfully applied were 
those which resulted in the power of doing some- 
thing, — that of translating a dead language for 
instance, or of working out problems and ex- 
plaining physical phsenomena; and which in con- 
sequence could be readily tested; and that it had 
not been applied to a mass of young men pre- 
pared in very different ways, or to subjects, like 
history and literature, where the candidate gains 
inform^ation and general cultivation, but no power 
of doing anything which can be exercised in an 
examination, excepting that of transferring what 
he has read to the paper before him. 

I shall hereafter have to speak further of 
this distinction between the studies which endow 
the pupil with a power of doing something he 
could not do before, and those which simply add 
to his knowledge. It will be found that the action 
of examinations is different when applied to sub- 
jects of one or the other of these classes. 



in the Higher Education, 



Until within the last few years Examinations 
were entirely in the hands of educational bodies, 
and though they were used for purposes of 
classification, or selection, still they were mainly 
fashioned with a view to the object specified 
under head (2). 

The mere saying of a lesson, or the week's 
repetition, is in fact the rudiment of the examina- 
tion viewed educationally. The examination at the 
en'd of each school-time is a powerful instrument 
in the hands of the teacher ; it concentrates atten- 
tion, it forces the student to carry a whole book, 
or a whole subject in his head at once, and it acts 
as a powerful stimulant ; it gives the boys an ob- 
ject to work for; they work to do well in the 
examination, they look no further than this, and 
there is no need that they should do so ; but the 
teacher so arranges the subjects of study and the 
papers, that he who most steadily works with a 
view to success, shall get the most good, both in 
the way of knowledge and of intellectual training. 

It will be of service to fix precisely the mean- 
ings in which the terms Liberal and Technical 
Education will be used. These two phrases are 
commonly employed so loosely as to be useless 
where precision is required. I propose then to use 
them in a rigorous sense ; premising that most 



6 On the Action of Examinations 

Liberal Educations are so far Technical that they 
enable a man to do something which he could 
not do before, and most Technical Educations are 
Liberal ones also In so far as they really improve 
the man, by disciplining his attention and forcing 
him to care and accuracy ; moreover it has a good 
moral effect on a youth to feel that he has acquired 
a mastery over matter, or the power of doing 
something which is of service to other people. 

I propose, however, to limit the terms as fol- 
lows : — 

An education Is liberal so far as it concerns 
itself with the good and the cultivation of the 
pupil ; valuing any accomplishment it may give 
him, for the new perceptions it opens out, for the 
new powers it confers, or for any other good it 
may do the man, and not regarding the work pro- 
duced : Liberal Education would like to make a 
man an artist, that he may have a delightful oc- 
cupation, and acquire an eye for beauty and for 
truth ; she would like him to paint well, because 
this would shew the possession of such an eye 
and many other qualities as well, but she would 
not care much about the pictures themselves ; she 
would not care a bit whether his pictures were 
valuable or not. 

An education so far as it is technical is careful 



in the Higher Education. 



not for the workman but for the work : Technical 
Education wants to get good pictures, and she 
only values any qualities of an artist so far as 
they conduce to this end. She aims at moulding 
the man into a perfect instrument for a particular 
purpose. 

The general adoption of a system of compe- 
titive Examinations in the subjects which have 
usually been supposed to belong to a Liberal Edu- 
cation has tended to combine more completely in 
practice these two kinds of education, which were 
already to some extent combined by the nature 
of the case. 

A young man has to present himself for an 
Important examination on a certain day, a list of 
subjects is given him with the number of marks 
assigned to each, and the number required to en- 
sure success is pretty well understood. His tutor 
has a limited time for preparation. The problem 
before him is therefore very different from that of 
simply doing what is best for the pupil. The 
tutor must consider not what studies or what kind 
of teaching will do him most good, but what 
studies will yield the highest aggregate in the 
given time, and he must teach his pupil each sub- 
ject not with a view to call out his intelligence, 
but with a view to producing the greatest show on 



8 On the Action of Examinations 

a stated day ; for instance, he must teach him a 
language by some sort of Ollendorff process, which 
shall address itself to the ear and the memory, 
rather than by a method which involves any gram- 
matical analysis ; while in mathematics he must 
teach him such operations as can be performed by 
a sort of general recipe. The tutor must turn the 
qualities of the pupil, such as they may be, to 
the best account he can in point of marks. He 
cannot try to remedy any mental defects, there 
is not time enough for any such undertaking 
to yield profit ; he must make the most of such 
qualities as the pupil has ; in the case of one who 
is tolerably quick but mentally self-indulgent and 
repelled by the first serious difficulty, he must, 
instead of forcing him to face the fancied giants 
in his path, humour his weak points and make 
the most of his strong ones, and he must direct 
him to take up several subjects which require no 
further power than that of carrying matter for a 
short time — a useful one indeed in many callings, 
but which is sure to find all the exercise it wants ; 
in short, the tutor in such a case has to look to 
the work that can be turned out, more than 
to the effect of the training on the producer; 
that is to say, the spirit of technical teaching 
enters very largely into the education given, 



in the Higher Education, 



though the subjects may be those used for a liberal 
education. 

Those who afford this kind of preparation are 
often called crammers. Now so far as this term 
implies any opprobrium it is unjustly applied ; a 
market has been opened for a particular kind of 
slight fabric, the stouter and costlier stuffs are 
thereby rendered- less saleable, and the mill-owner 
must meet the popular demand or close his mills. 
People are hardly aware how thoroughly the 
educational world is governed by the ordinary 
economical rules. While employing the motives 
of gain and advancement most profusely, the pub- 
lic seems to find fault with teachers and pupils 
for being influenced by these considerations, — they 
set young men to run a race, and then wonder 
that they run not to improve their physique 
but simply to win — they make learning a market- 
able commodity and then complain that it is 
grown for the market, and that few are now 
influenced by a pure devotion to science. All 
teachers would rather educate than cram. It is 
painful to \hem to say, "You must get off this 
list of authors and their works by heart. I know 
it will do you no good, I know that the words 
Drayton's Polyolbion or Evelyn's Sylva convey 
to you no more meaning than if they were the 



lo On the Action of Examinations 

names of Gasteropods, but they will probably be 
asked for to-morrow." Many of these men are 
fighting hard to retain their self-respect under the 
adverse circumstances in which they are placed.; 
but to fight single-handed against a system en- 
forced by official Examinations is to cease to be 
a tutor at all. 

The words cram and crammer, as Mr Tod- 
hunter observes "''^ are sometimes loosely used, and 
sometimes serve as a bugbear to raise a cry 
against some kind of teaching. This is frequently 
true when they are used by writers, but when 
used by a pupil or an undergraduate he means 
something very definite ; he is the individual who 
wears the shoe, and such I have generally found 
can usually be trusted both when they tell you 
where it pinches, and where they find it best to 
cut a hole to make it easy. So when a youth says 
he has left a tutor's and gone to a ** crammer's" 
in London to prepare for "his Army Exam.," he 
is sensible of a real difference ; he does not mean 
any personal disrespect, but he looks on the latter 
person more as he would on a music master or 
a French master, as a person who has nothing to 
do with educating him as a moral or reasonable 
being, but whose business is to endow him with 

* The Conflict of Studies, and other Essays. Macmillan and Co., 1873. 



in the Higher Edtccation. 1 1 

some one accomplishment ; which in this case is 
that of being able to answer so many printed 
questions on a particular day. 

The case just considered leads us to another 
point, which is very important in considering the 
operation of Examinations, and which especially 
affects the spirit in which the teacher works. It 
makes all the differ Ace whether the teaching Is sub- 
ordinate to the Examination or the Examination to 
the teaching. One or the other is usually "given," 
to use the mathematical term, and the other has 
to be adapted to it. As long as Examinations 
were conducted only in schools and Universities, 
the educational effects were kept well in view, and 
the range of the Examinations was made to cor- 
respond with that of the work. The teachers of 
course would not be the actual examiners, but 
they would be part of the governing body who 
arranged the scheme of Examination, and would 
set themselves to put right any point in which 
the system acted injuriously on the course of 
reading. In these cases the Examination is 
subordinate — or rather was so, for, as I have said, 
its power is spreading far and wide — and its 
Influence may be' unexceptionable. 

It Is, however, essential for any public com- 
petitive Examination that it should be dissociated 



12 On the Action of Examinations 

from any particular system of instruction, and that 
the particulars of it should be made known by 
timely notice. This notice determines the reading 
of the candidates all over the country, they will, 
if they can, obtain copies of the examination papers, 
— even if they were not published, imperfect copies 
would get abroad or particular information would 
be got from former candidates^ so that publication 
is the fairest course, — and having these papers and 
the notice, the pupil can determine on his own course 
of reading, and the tutor feels that he is no longer 
really directing his studies. Here then the Ex- 
amination is supreme. If the tutor go ever so 
little beyond the prescribed subjects, the pupil 
will say " That does not come in," and the tutor 
is hampered, and feels that he is no longer the 
educator. He becomes like a Professor in a 
French Lyceum, who is bound to prepare the 
students to pass in a certain " Cours " according 
to a detailed Programme, and who is apt to 
grow disgusted at the mechanical nature of his 
employment. This feeling has produced very 
disastrous effects in French education, and we 
should be careful not to break down the inde- 
pendence of the teacher ; with it will go his love 
for his work and his faith in it. 

How to adjust the balance so as to afford 



in the Higher Edtication. 13 

the teacher such independence as to let him give 
play to his individual turn, and claim a full share 
of attention for that study which he can throw his 
heart most into, without handing over a school or 
a class altogether to one master or one professor ; 
how to provide by the examination just so much 
control over the teacher as shall prevent him from 
slurring over one part of a subject and unduly ex- 
aggerating the importance of another; or save him 
from sinking into negligence or indifference under 
the insidiods temptation of having his work sub- 
ject to no external test, — of being able to say, as 
a foreign professor did, contrasting his position 

with our Cambridge ways, "At / am the 

Senate- House," — is a question which I shall treat 
of hereafter. I cannot promise a solution, but I 
may set people in the way of searching for one. 

I have already spoken of Examinations as an 
encroaching power : the way in which their in- 
fluence spreads is very remarkable. Directly an 
examination is introduced into a school or colleofe 
course in one subject, we find that the general 
interest is attracted so largely to that subject, that 
there is a danger of its starving the other subjects. 
Hence subject after subject is brought under its 
range, and if Examinations leading to valuable 
prizes or privileges are introduced at all, it will 



14 On the Action of Examinatio7is 

soon be found necessary to comprise the whole 
work of the school or college in this range. 
Thus it is that Examinations, which originally 
gained their repute when applied to studies which 
resulted in a practical power, have been lately 
applied to subjects of mere information, where 
their operation is more uncertain, and their in- 
fluence more questionable. 

There may be subjects so ill adapted for the 
purposes of Examination, that it may not only be 
extremely difficult to test attainment in them, or 
to test ability by means of them, by questions on 
paper, but, though the subject may be of the 
highest value for purposes of mental cultivation, it 
may lose a great deal of this efficiency by being put 
into the /brm required to render it available for an 
examination ; for this new power is very tyrannical 
as to the shape in which it will have Its aliment 
presented. Take for instance English Literature. 
It Is very Instructive for a small party to read 
a play of Shakespeare together, where each indi- 
vidual may be encouraged to dwell on any Ideas 
suggested by the author ; and where all feel at 
liberty to stray into critical discussion, and to use 
the Greek or French drama for Illustration or com- 
parison. But If there Is an Examination In pro- 
spect, and the subject has to be got up for the 



in the Higher Education. 15 

Indian or the Army Examination, no such easy or 
discursive treatment is possible. The pupils can- 
not afford time to stray beyond the limits of proba- 
ble questions. No Greek or French can be fairly 
set in an English paper, where English is weighed 
against Greek and French as separate subjects. 
Especially there is no use in dwelling on any 
thought suggested by the author. "My thoughts," 
says the student, "are sure not to be set;" and so 
when he reads by himself he does not encourage 
himself to half close the book when a thought 
strikes him, and linger over it, and make a pencil 
note to arrest the idea — and yet this is the way in 
which half our mental wealth comes. What he 
has to do is to get up the Historical Introduction 
and the notes to the hard passages and perplexing 
allusions, and to know the context of familiar 
quotations, and the derivation of unusual terms. 
This sort of philological study has its value no 
doubt ; many students will take more Interest in 
literature even so treated, than in many other 
kinds of work, but it is a different study from that 
which peoples a young man's mind with the crea- 
tions of great writers'". 

* Students who have been attending Lectures in English with interest, 
when the Examination is at a distance, will say within three or four months 
of the struggle, that they can no longer afford to treat one subject so fully, 
and that they must get up their " Manual." 



1 6 On the Action of Examinations 

But we are in this dilemma : if we do not exa- 
mine in English Literature it will be absolutely- 
unknown ; for an impending Examination is a 
jealous master — it absorbs all the intellectual 
energy of its servants. An anxious candidate 
would think it a piece of profligate dissipation to 
read a book requiring any close attention that did 
not bear on his task. Young people now will not 
read Shakespeare, hardly even Byron or Walter 
Scott, in play-hours at school ; and this is more 
especially the case since these authors — who were 
our own pleasant companions on winter evenings 
or summer afternoons — have been included in 
the lists of subjects for Examinations ; they have 
thereby become lessons, and got to be regarded 
by the schoolboy as having gone over to the 
enemy altogether. 

Here then we see that this system is like an 
irresistible power extending her dominion over 
provinces some of which are the better and some 
the worse for her sway, but for the latter, at 
present, no escape is apparent ; and all that seems 
left is by careful adjustment, and by getting an 
insight into the workings of this system and its 
effects immediate and remote, to minimise the 
evils it brings with it. 

There are many subsidiary influences which 



in the Higher Education. 17 

favour the spread of Examinations. We live in a 
time when we want to outdo one another and to 
have our doings known. Half the value of any- 
kind of excellence consists in its being declared to 
the world, — the score of a cricketer, and the bag 
of a sportsman on the moors are duly recorded — - 
and more is thought of outdoing a neighbour 
than of enjoying the pastime. The mischief of the 
athleticism now prevailing does not lie so much 
in the time given to active exertion, as in the un- 
due importance attached to these matters by the 
public and the press. In the same way, the value 
of a high place in an Examination list comes from 
publicity ; — it goes very easily into a newspaper, 
and though the exact amount of honour is not 
well understood, relatives make much of seeing 
a youngster's name high in a class list ; the credit 
of a school is upheld by the distinction of its pupils 
in public Examinations, and pressure is thereby 
laid on the master to direct their studies with a 
view to such success. Further, a youth feels a 
stimulus in reading for Examinations, something 
akin to that aroused in a game ; he is pitting his 
wits against those of his competitors — the darling 
spirit of combat so powerful in English lads is 
called to the help of the instructor ; — more than 
this, he feels also that he is struggling with his 
L. 2^ 



1 8 On the Action of Examinations 

examiner — a much more questionable kind of con- 
test — and he gets to pride himself on a faculty 
of divining, as he goes on, what is and is not 
likely to be set. 

When once a young man thus gets habituated 
to have his work seasoned by this sense of being 
on the search for weapons which he is at once to 
bring to bear in an actual contest, he will find 
any study that lacks this condiment very insipid ; 
he will be like the whist-player of a London club 
set down to play for penny points in a family 
rubber. He may try to force himself to his work, 
he may really wish to acquire the language or 
the professional study before him, but the ' com- 
parative remoteness of the return will deaden his 
interest. He has been used to look for points, 
to regard every effective little bit of information, 
every new mathematical artifice or short method 
as something that was to give him an advantage 
in a passage of arms which he had in view, and 
when this is gone his work seems for a time to 
have neither savour nor salt. This feelingr affects 
men in different degrees ; sometimes it soon passes 
away, as when a man goes into active life and 
interests of another kind are awakened ; in other 
cases, especially when there is no natural love of 
intellectual exertion, it gives a permanent dis- 



in the Higher Education, 



taste for study, — and as far as my observation 
goes, the later in life the Examination system is 
continued, and the more subjects are embraced 
in it, the more serious the effect is. 

From this it follows that when once we begin 
to employ the stimulant of Examinations, we can- 
not do without it so long as the process of edu- 
cation lasts. Now this like all stimulants requires 
very careful handling, and the temptation to ex- 
cessive use is great : judiciously applied it may 
carry on the student until the genuine interests of 
a professional career supply the requisite motives 
for exertion, and artificial aids may be given up. 
Hence Examinations have a tendency to pro- 
long the 'duration of their sway as well as to ex- 
tend its bounds, and much injury may be done 
by subjecting men whose intellects are already 
mature — men who ought to give their minds free 
play and who might engage in original research 
— 'to the cramping effect of Examinations. 

For young people, the advantages of Exami- 
nations outweigh the ills ; for full-grown ,men 
the balance inclines the other way. A kind, of 
Examination, it is said, should be found suitable 
to their case, and no doubt one kind may be less 
objectionable than another, but I know of none 
that is quite satisfactory : the spirit with which a raaa 

2 — 2 



20 On the Action of Examinations 

works whose object is display in an Examination^ 
is different from that of a man who is engaged in 
doing good conscientious work, from devotion to a 
study of his own choosing. A man of four or five 
and twenty is hampered by a sense of never-ending 
pupillage, if an Examination is hanging over him I 
he longs to be doing his work for himself only. 

It was something less than twenty years ago, 
about the time when the statutes of the Uni- 
versities were being recast, that the world was 
so mightily taken with its new panacea of com- 
petitive Examinations. An attempt was made to 
introduce special Examinations apart from those 
of the University for the awarding of Fellowships 
to Graduates ; at Cambridge happily without much 
success. It was seen that it was not good to keep 
a man in an expectant and unsettled state for some 
years after his degree, and that such a system 
favoured those who had some private fortune, as 
compared with those who had to maintain them- 
selves by tuition. 

At that time most persons in public positions 
overlooked the important bearing of Examinations 
on education : they regarded them simply as a 
touchstone. It was thought that you could test 
"merit" by examining a man just as you might 
find his weight by putting him into the scales, and 



in the Higher Education. 21 

that one operation had no more effect on the 
constitution than the other. Besides, at that 
time it was argued that even if there were any 
educational effects they did not concern the se- 
lecting bodies. Our business, they said, is sim- 
ply to get the best men we can ; the education 
is your matter. They were like the oculist of 
the old school, who said, "There is a speck in 
your eye, and I must give you calomel till it 
is absorbed." " But about my liver ? " said the 
patient. " That is not my business," replied the 
oculist. An oculist now would see that, to get 
the eye right, he must not lose sight of the 
general health of the patient. And in the same 
way, I trust that it is now understood that, merely 
with the view of securing for the state the best 
servants possible, we must not so frame our 
Examinations as to damage the general tone of 
the education of the country. 

A reaction is already springing up with regard 
to Examinations, and we may have to guard against 
an equally unwise and indiscriminating disfavour. 
Now and then a novel and potent agent is 
brought forward in the medical world, and young 
practitioners will prescribe the fashionable drug 
or treatment in all kinds of cases. Eventually 
it is ascertained that this nostrum, when used 



2 2 On the Action of Examinations 

habitually, ruins the constitution, and it is found 
that, besides its direct and recognised action, 
this specific has remote and indirect effects of 
a serious nature ; these are not found out for 
some time, and in the meanwhile it is employed 
as if it were the safest thing in the world. But 
when disastrous effects have been brought home 
to it a reaction comes about, and the panacea falls 
into a discredit which it did not deserve ; used by 
proper hands, in proper cases and proper doses, 
it might have been a very valuable therapeutic. 
Something like this is beginning to come about 
with regard to Examinations. 

People cry out against the over-stimulation of 
the existing system, and they forget the complete 
stagnation of mind in which the ordinary British 
dunce spent his life after he had escaped from the 
hands of his schoolmaster. Some of us may 
recollect what the young men were who used to 
hang about ^'^ waiting for their commission ; " or 
even what the Pass-men were formerly at the 
Universities in the long, undisturbed interval be- 
tween " Little-go " and Degree. We may re- 
collect, too, to turn to a higher class of men, 
that when the Indian Examinations were first 
introduced, and men were sent in to examina- 
tion without any immediate preparation, those 



in the Higher Education. 23 

places of education which furnished lectures only 
without final examinations were unsuccessful, the 
work of candidates from such places was most 
usually loosely done ; this drove these educating 
bodies to introduce special classes and examina- 
tions, which have been attended with results as 
good as they could have hoped for. 

But the prevalence of Examinations affects 
the education not only of those who are going 
to be examined but also of those who are not. If 
there are at a tutor's two sets of boys, one going 
to be examined shortly and the other not so, the 
former will say to the latter, "Why should you 
bother yourselves when you have nothing to work 
for?" The notion of improvement has disappeared 
with the former under the action of the more cogent 
motive, and the others soon catch the idea that 
they had better make the most of their good 
fortune in not having, to use their own slang 
phraseology — for Examinations have acquired a 
slang of their own — "to grind for an Exam." 
And as the former are eager for all the help the 
tutor can give them, while the latter are in- 
different, and as the tutor feels that the welfare 
of the former and his own credit, rest on their 
success, while for the others there is no immediate 
pressure, he can hardly help bestowing more 



24 On the Action of Examinations 

energy and thought, even though he distribute 
his time equally, on those who are working with 
most zeal and whose case is most urgent. The 
same influence is felt at schools, though in a less 
degree. 

Hence, even if a youth be not intended for 
a career for which an Examination is required, 
it may be necessary to keep some such ordeal 
before him, that he may not revel in the im- 
munity, which is brought into such strong light 
by contrast with the forced labour of his com- 
panions. To have separate establishments for 
Examinees and non-Examinees would entail still 
worse evils ; you would have the plums in one 
cake and the dough in another. It is easily 
seen then from how many causes and in how 
many ways the extension of a system of Exami- 
nations is ensured when it has once taken a firm 
hold. 

It remains for us to inquire why such a system 
should have established itself, particularly in our 
own time. It did not come about by the arbitrary 
act of any person or of any educational body, it 
grew up; but there must have been some reason 
for such an abnormal growth. A stray plant will 
not run over a whole country unless there be some- 
thing in the soil or the climate which especially 



in the Higher Education. 25 

suits it. What elements, then, are there in the 
temper and in the condition of the times we Hve in, 
which have so fostered this new system ? What 
are the new needs which Examinations are found, 
or are thought, to fulfil ? 

This inquiry will lead us to some general 
views on the nature of the agency which Examina- 
tions exert, and in the discussion of these we 
shall arrive at some sort of answer to the above 
queries. 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ACTION OF EXAMINATIONS. 

Examinations do for young people what the con- 
test of life does for men. It is the struggle of 
man with man for eminence or power or money 
that develops energy, and forces each individual to 
make the most of that which is in him. The 
struggle may seem to be for power or for gain, but 
it is not only for these, there is a charm for most 
natures in the struggle itself, man is "framed to 
battle with his kind." Many persons would feel 
that an interest would be taken out of their lives 
if by any means they dropt at once into a posi- 
tion which they were in the way to win by a fair 
fight. Some no doubt exhaust themselves by over 
striving, and they tax circumstances, or the high 
pressure of the times, with the mischief consequent 
on what they call overwork, but which more fre- 
quently is overworry, and is more due to their 
own habits of mind than to anything external. 
On the whole however the struggle of each man 



General View, &c. 27 

towards ' the front is as good for him as it is 
for society at large ; it keeps him vigorously ex- 
ercising his powers, and from such exertion he 
gets a fuller sense of life. What is true of the 
great conflict is also true of the minor contests in 
which young people learn their relative strength. 

With the young and healthy there is a re- 
dundancy of this combative spirit ; the pleasure 
of all sports and games comes from the gra- 
tification of it, and Education must take it into 
account if she would fit herself to the nature 
of those she teaches. A few boys out of a 
thousand will have a turn of mind so abstract, 
that they will find all the contest they want in a 
struggle with a hard problem or an intricate pas- 
sage ; but the great body of young people require 
concrete antagonists. We know how hard it is 
to put any life into a young man's work if he 
is being educated by himself and does not look 
forward to any struggle. We sometimes hear 
people grieve that youths are urged on by a spirit 
of outdoing one another and not by a love of im- 
provement; this spirit no doubt should be kept 
within bounds, it should be kept healthy and 
chivalrous, by the tone inspired by the teacher and 
by such arrangements of the Examinations and 
prizes as may best exclude sordid considerations 



28 General View of the 

and personal antagonism. But before we expect 
young men in general to do steady work without 
the stimulus of emulation or the prospect of re- 
ward, we ought to ask ourselves whether we find 
that their seniors usually labour in professions 
without being influenced in some degree by simi- 
lar motives. No doubt men must love their work 
more or less in order to do it thoroughly, just as 
no youth will do well in any study unless he have 
some genuine interest in it, but this love and this 
interest do not come all at once, and meanwhile a 
motive is wanted. Moreover, without ambition 
or the need of makinof a livelihood few men will 
endure the routine which enters into all pro- 
fessional courses. Many might indeed do ama- 
teur work of some kind just as many young 
men would engage in some desultory study, pass- 
ing lightly over what is distasteful ; but few will 
either work or study in a thoroughly business- 
like way without some inducement beyond the 
satisfaction of the work itself. Do statesmen 
or barristers or physicians pursue their courses 
without any stimulus either from the love of 
triumph or of distinction or of gain? Out of the 
thousands of men in England who by their wealth 
are freed from the need of professional toil 
there are a certain number who devote themselves 



Action of Examinations. 29 

to some noble end, to philanthropic or scientific or 
literary work, but these answer to those few boys 
who delight in the abstract triumph over difficul- 
ties and the acquisition of learning for its own 
sake : while the majority of men do not engage 
in either work or study, but are content with the 
occupations that fall in their way ; — how then can 
we look to boys to do what men will not do ? 

We must consider this matter a little further. 
In education we commonly aim at effecting two 
things, we want in some sort to discipline the mind 
and also to fit it up. By fitting it up, I do not 
mean the merely storing it with dead matter, with 
information, but also the furnishing it with ma- 
chinery which it can set to work at pleasure. The 
power of speaking a new language, of seeing in 
the mind the way in which forces are acting in 
any case of motion, of referring at sight a bird or 
a plant to its proper order, these are mental 
capabilities which are analogous to practical ac- 
complishments, such as swimming and skating, 
which once acquired remain by us for life. 

Some branches of study are especially valu- 
able for the first of these purposes, for training the 
mind and giving a man the use of his brains, while 
others are chiefly important for the accomplish- 
ments in which they result, and some combine 



30 General View of the 

both sorts of advantage. Now many boys will see 
the value of the studies which yield them new 
capabilities, and will pursue these with some good 
will for their own sake, but very few will devote 
themselves of their own accord to subjects which 
do not result in such capabilities, however valuable 
they may be for mental discipline ; they will usu- 
ally say that such subjects are of no use. Now, 
in fact, method and good mental habits are more 
valuable than particular acquirements, because they 
are part of the individual's self, while the others are 
only perishable apparel, and also because a person 
who possesses them, who can apply his mind and 
get hold of a question by its right end, and fix his 
attention on one set of circumstances at a time, 
can with the greater readiness acquire any par- 
ticular accomplishment which he may want. But 
the studies which are best calculated for imparting 
these valuable habits are, as we have seen, those 
which young people are the least likely to learn 
of their own will. A youth is often desirous of 
being able to speak French just as he is of being 
able to play the flute, and he will want to pick it 
up as quickly as he can ; he never thinks of getting 
education out of the process of learning, and it is 
in general better that he should not do so, for 
self-consciousness might spoil the process ; but. 



Action of Examinations. 3 1 

unless he is a mathematical genius, he does not 
want to learn geometry, although it may do him 
ten times the good that the learning of French will, 
especially if the language be picked up, as it most 
readily is picked up by a boy, by some reiterative 
method depending mainly on ear. The teacher 
then must look for some external inducements to 
lead youths to these important studies; his main 
resources should be drawn from the moral region, 
from the pupil's faith in the teacher's guidance, 
and from his sense of the duty of getting that 
done which is given him to do ; but the teacher 
has as auxiliaries the spirit of emulation, the hope 
of reward, and the dread of censure or of failure ; 
these auxiliaries are coming more and more to the 
front, they are getting to be more thoroughly or- 
ganised and are now perhaps the most effective of 
the teacher's forces. 

Possibly the tendency of the time, and of the 
tone of opinion which young people gather from 
newspapers or what they hear at home, may be 
to diminish this faith and reverence for authority 
among certain classes, and certainly there has been 
a growing disposition both among old and young 
to look for positive measurable results. Parents 
want something to shew for education ; a place- in 
an Examination list seems to gauge the advantage 



General View of the 



which they have paid for, and besides it frequently 
has a positive market value as opening the door 
to some emolument or profession. From these 
causes, and also from a political one which we 
shall notice presently, has arisen that growth of 
Examinations alluded to at the end of the last 
chapter ; the emulative or combative spirit is 
brought to bear in Competitive Examinations, and 
we shall find presently that the place of censure or 
coercion is taken by Qualifying Examinations, the 
former urge forward those who are in the front, 
the latter oblige those who hang in the rear to 
keep up to a certain pace. 

It will be seen that the use of Examinations as 
educational stimulants or for coercion, implies that 
young people need to be stimulated or compelled 
to work, that is to say, it assumes the existence of 
human imperfection, and undertakes to deal with 
certain forms of it. We shall see later that we 
may by Examinations modify the ways in which 
this imperfection shews itself, but it will not dis- 
appear. The human element of education, that 
is the action of the wise man on the weak 
one, may indeed remove the evil altogether, 
but the mechanism of education of which Ex- 
aminations are a part, can only dilute or trans- 
form It. It may indeed be said, that by our 



Action of Examinations. 33 

stimulants and palliatives, we are really encourag- 
ing the disease, and we may no doubt use these 
agencies so injudiciously, as to give truth to the 
charge. We may employ the motive of gain so 
excessively, as to thrust into the background that 
faith in the teacher and regard for a kind word of 
approval, which ought to serve us as our main- 
spring, and this danger must be kept in view. 

There are some who think it possible to 
engage the interest of young people in their own 
mental culture, as much as in the acquisition of 
accomplishments — these say, "You should im- 
press on your pupil the need of training and 
strengthening his faculties, you should induce him 
to mark his mental defects, and take the formation 
of his character into his own hands." This is 
very often attempted, it is rather a popular course ; 
some young men like to be taken into partnership 
as it were with their teacher, and to discuss their 
own mental peculiarities. So fashionable pracr 
titioners find it answer their purpose to discuss 
the patient's case with him, and let him indulge 
in his own hypotheses, and suggest the mode of 
treatment. 

In the great majority of cases, however, entrea- 
ties to a youth to take earnestly to a study, in 
order to expand his mind, are pretty well thrown 
L. 3 



34 General View of the - 

away. A boy is firmly persuaded that his mind 
is very well as it is — he cannot for the life of him 
understand what is meant by its being expanded 
— when you begin to talk about studies doing good 
to his mind, he takes it to shew that you have 
nothing better to say in their favour, and that in 
reality they are " of no good." You will do more 
with him usually, by calling on him to work in pure 
faith as a matter of duty, telling him, that at that 
time he cannot be made to see the good of these 
studies, but that he must work, taking it on trust that 
there is a good, and that you know what it is, and 
would not worry him with lessons for lessons' sake. 
Sometimes a persuasive teacher will lead a few 
boys in the upper classes in a school to fancy that 
they are interested in the training of their minds. 
The result too often is, that they are made self- 
conscious prigs. They will tell you that they are 
studying this and that to give them method, or 
accuracy, or a command of language. They are 
frequently discovering peculiarities in their own 
mental structure; they will consult their tutor on 
the way to remedy certain defects of which they 
are conscious— which defects, by the way, are 
mostly of that kind which they in their hearts 
believe to be only excellences transformed — and 
so they get positively injured, either by the habit 



Action of Examinations. 35 

of introspection in reality, or' by the affectation 
of watching the action of their minds, and by 
boundless talking about themselves. 

We have come then to these conclusions. A 
very large proportion of our young men require 
to be stimulated to study in the same way as men 
in active life require inducements to keep them 
to work ; Competitive Examinations answer to 
the struggle for advancement in life ; Qualifying 
Examinations to the necessity for competent abi- 
lity — a necessity which is becoming daily more 
imperative : — and lastly the subjects which are the 
most repulsive, or which yield the smallest imme- 
diate return in the way of a practical acquirement, 
are the most in need of this adventitious encou- 
ragement. 

It should always be recollected that there are 
two ways in which the miniature struggle in Exa- 
minations is preparatory to the real encounter of 
life: it is so not only because it leads men to lay 
up weapons in the way of acquirements, or to 
strengthen the sinews of the brain by exercise, 
but also because it calls out the moral qualities 
needful for success in life — it requires teachable- 
ness, concentration, and above all, the power of 
" enduring hardness," of working when one would 
rather not work, and setting one's self to master 



36 • General View of the 

thoroughly what may be distasteful. I believe 
myself that one great effort in the way of a heavy 
Examination is a very valuable piece of mental 
discipline ; it calls out the courage and the re- 
sources that there are in a man, and merely to 
have made this effort conscientiously, and have 
done his best, gives a moral elevation to the cha- 
racter, even if he fail in winning any very marked 
success. It gives a man confidence and self- 
respect through life, to have performed something 
like an achievement — some result of steady self- 
denial — at the outset of his career. 

No doubt there are some persons too feeble 
to make any considerable effort. There is, I fear, 
an increasing proportion of our young men who 
are so weakly that the machine can only just be 
kept going — it cannot be made to do work. An 
effort might indeed be dangerous to these persons, 
and it might be slightly hurtful to those who are 
only a few degrees stronger, but there is little fear 
that such persons will ever venture on an effort 
too great for them. As our wishes are said to 
be the fore-feeling of our capacities, so our lan- 
guor or timidity is the forerunner which keeps 
incapacity from the danger of over-exertion. But 
while some parents are eagerly pitting their sons 
against each other for scholarships at school or 



Action of Examinations. 3 7 

college, others have a terrible fear of overworking 
the brain, and seem to hold that the proper state 
of that organ is one of complete repose. Per- 
sons engaged in education will agree that cases 
are now not infrequent in which both mind and 
body are in danger of being coddled into flac- : 
cidity, from the fear which fond relations entertain, , 
of their darlings' energies being overstrained. We 
cannot afford to let all severity pass out of educa- 
tion, for the world is no easier for men, though 
indulgent parents may make it so for boys. 

I have said one great effort ; — of course this 
one effort will involve many preparatory re- 
hearsals ; but these should be all subsidiary to the ; 
great struggle ; these trials will not affect the unity 
of the end which the candidate sets before him ; 
in this unity part of the wholesomeness of the 
effort lies. Singleness of aim is a most important 
lesson. I am not, be it observed, supposing here 
that the Examination is of any particular kind, 
or limited to one subject ; only it should be such 
that it may readily be conceived as a whole. If 
the subjects of Examination are very multifarious, 
the student loses this singleness of purpose; he 
is always balancing the comparative advantages 
of investing his time in this branch of study or 
the other. Hence comes doubt, and doubt often 



38 General View of the 

leads to inaction — an inaction by the way which 
is anything but rest ; for though the man may 
not stir, he is being pulled by conflicting claims 
in two or three ways at once. 

I do not say that two such efforts would do 
absolute harm ; but the second would not bring 
a like amount of the moral good that we have 
spoken of; it might however have good intellectual 
results in the way of carrying the student through 
a fresh range of subjects. More than two such 
efforts would usually impair the elasticity of the 
mind, and a series of them would cramp and en- 
feeble it. A succession of small efforts, such as a 
series of trials for scholarships or appointments, 
has a decidedly injurious effect ; there is in them 
none of the discipline of a grand effort, no gather- 
ing up of energies and concentration of them on 
a single purpose. The constant canvassing of 
the number of vacancies and of probable com- 
petitors, the talk about marks and money value, 
is far from elevating, and the constant getting 
up of subjects and letting them go again, leaves 
the mind like an indiarubber band which has 
been too often stretched. It has been already 
said that Examinations should not be carried far 
on into life : when it is time for the real contest 
to begin the mimic ones should be given up. I 



Action of Examinations. 39 

should put the age of twenty-four or twenty-five 
as the extreme limit within which any Examina- 
tion is advisable (beyond a qualifying professional 
Examination), and I should prefer that a young 
man should have done with Examinations by the 
time he is twenty -three. 

I referred just now to one cause for the spread 
of Examinations, which was of a political nature. 
It has been the policy of our government to free 
themselves from the burden of patronage, by 
throwing appointments open to competition. This 
use of Examinations as a means of dispensing 
Government patronage withdraws them from the 
province of purely educational science. In a purely 
educational treatise we might say, under certain 
circumstances they ought not to be employed at 
all. Just as medical men might say that no man 
should engage in some unhealthy handicraft — the 
making of needles for instance ; — but the world 
must have needles and the Government must 
dispose of its patronage, and all that medical or 
educational bodies can do is to bring the mischief 
to a minimum. In this as in many other matters 
it is the business of our own time to weigh, 
and to adjust, and to correct, — to make measure- 
ments, to estimate comparative magnitude, and to 
strike the balance between opposing tendencies. 



40 General View of the 

I think that a priori it is not to be expected i 
that we can remove by any ingenious mechanism 
all possible ill effects from such competitive Ex- 
aminations. The reason is that the necessity for 
these Examinations arises from some social and 
moral evils which belong to another region alto- 
gether. Such evils will bring about practical in- 
conveniences. They have a way of asserting that 
they are evils in a very unmistakeable manner, and 
you can no more do away with moral evils or with 
their effects by any agency that is not moral 
in its nature than you could change by ingenuity 
of construction the amount of labouring force 
transmitted by an engine. Now Examinations 
may, no doubt, when taken as part of a course of 
education, help to call out moral qualities ; but 
they have little or no moral bearing when they 
are used simply as sifting apparatus, and are not 
connected with any course of teaching. 

Our mode of government requires a system of 
Examinations as a means of dispensing patronage so 
as to avoid solicitation and the suspicion of favour. 
Now a system may be found which shall answer 
the above purpose well, and which may never- 
theless give rise to a bad mode of study. Here 
the difficulty arises from using an educational 
agent for a purpose which is not educational. The 



Action of Examinations. 41 

Examination, in order to give a fair chance to all 
comers, must be equally adapted to all kinds of 
education. I believe that no such general adapta- 
tion can really be effected, but we shall see that 
the attempt to effect it is the cause of much 
mischief Education does not undertake to pro- 
vide a machine which shall sort out men according 
to merit. Education would at once ask you what 
is meant by merit, — whether there is not one kind 
of merit for soldiers and another for civilians, — 
and would indeed put so many unpleasant and 
Socratic questions that she would be sent about 
her business. She would insist upon it that the 
only thorough remedy for an openness to the sus- 
picion of shewing favour on the part of the gover- 
nors — or for a suspicious temper of mind on the 
part of the governed — or for the corrupting in- 
fluence of solicitation, was to improve the tone of 
public opinion. She would say, perhaps, that she 
has been trying to do this in her own way, and to 
raise teachers and learning in public estimation as 
a step in this direction, but that to make in- 
formation an article that a youngster only wants 
to run to market with and get the best price for, 
is not the way to promote this. Statesmanship 
would thereupon reply that a mechanism was 
wanted at once to meet an urgent need, and that 



42 General View of the 

the matter could not stand over till the world 
grew wiser ; and Education, like a sensible body, 
would allow that, in our complicated state of 
things, no one department can look for a clear 
stage all to itself, but must make the most of what 
room it can get and be ready to lend a helping 
hand, when wanted, for the general good. 

I have said in the last chapter that Examina- 
tions have two leading functions ; they may serve 
for selection and they may assist education ; but 
an arrangement suitable for one purpose may be 
bad for the other ; so we may arrive at a kind of 
antagonism. This is the source of many of our 
difficulties ; and it will frequently present itself 
as we proceed with the subject. 

The case before us is of such importance that 
it must be considered at some leno^th. No doubt 
in a perfect state of things, those who have to 
give appointments would be incapable of partiality, 
and the public would not dream of suspecting 
them ; but we have to deal with imperfections 
which we cannot remove, and all we can do is to 
mitieate the mischief which results from them ; 
it will still exist, but we may make it take another 
form. Instead of solicitation and corruption on 
the part of the electoral body we shall have a 
certain amount of demoralization in the educa- 



Action of Examinations. 43 

tional world ; tutors and pupils will occasionally 
conspire for the simulation of knowledge, and a 
mercenary view of the object of instruction may be 
spread among parents : the nuisance will have been 
transferred from the electoral to the educational 
arena, but then the educational interest will get 
some very decided advantages by way of a set-off 

The evils of the competitive system admit of 
being very forcibly depicted, and it is thus easy to 
create a strong feeling against it ; but we shall find 
that, in many departments, more good than harm 
has resulted from it ; only the disadvantages of 
the present system are before our eyes, and those 
of the system it has displaced are coming to be 
forgotten. It is surely better for clerkships to 
be awarded by competition than for young men to 
be content to remain dunces, as they used to do, 
because the borough member had promised to 
do something for them. 

With regard to the lower class of appointments 
such as the clerkships in some of the larger govern- 
ment departments, the balance in favour of the 
present plan, considered educationally, is very con- 
siderable. The Examinations have caused a large 
body of young men to get an education which, 
though not all we could wish, is better than the 
•'schooling" which used to be obtained at the 



44 General View of the 

"■ Classical and Commercial Academy " of twenty 
years back. The class of persons who obtain the 
appointments is probably not much changed by 
the system. Some improvement will have been 
effected in their arithmetic, and in their power of 
expressing themselves ; this will be permanent, be- 
cause these accomplishments will be in daily use ; 
moreover, the selected candidates must have shewn 
an acquaintance with the leading facts of history 
and geography ; but this knowledge is often 
transitory. What the performance of the can- 
didate really represents is the power of carrying a 
certain amount of matter in the mind for a time. 
This power is a useful one as far as it goes ; but the 
great good that has been effected by the system is, 
that a better class of middle schools has been called 
into existence. This no doubt is partly due to the 
University Local Examinations, but the success 
of these examinations themselves would have 
been much less decided if parents had not been 
aroused by prudential motives to the necessity 
of training their sons to encounter such ordeals. 

With regard to the higher class of appoint- 
ments such as those for the Indian Civil Service, 
I am of opinion that the system works injuriously 
for the higher education, and I cannot but think 
that the department itself does not obtain such 



Action of Examinations. 45 

effective public servants as it might command. I 
need not insist on the main defect of the plan, 
because it is generally allowed. I mean that the 
essential requisites for an Indian Civil Servant are 
that he should have a vigorous will and be self- 
helpful in emergencies, qualities which an Ex- 
amination does not pretend to test. I am now 
concerned mainly with the good of the candidates 
themselves in an educational point of view. Ill 
regard to this, the evils have mainly arisen from 
the want of foreseeing the effects of so wide an 
Examination, backed by such vast prizes, on modes 
of education. The present system was framed 
mainly with a view to selection and to giving fair 
play to different kinds of knowledge. It was in- 
tended to fashion the Examination so as to give 
full recognition to all branches of learning without 
favouring any particular kind of education ; but it 
was not perceived that when a system of Exa- 
minations like that for the Indian Civil Service 
is put forward, this contains implicitly a scheme 
of education in itself. There must be some spe- 
cial course of study and mode of instruction more 
adapted than others to ensure success ; what this 
most effectual method is can be made out from 
the published papers and the tables of marks, with 
the help of a little experience ; and after a time 



46 General View of the 

this method will be usually adopted by candidates. 
Few parents can venture to consider anything else 
than how to secure an appointment ; they have to 
look not for sound education, but for " successful 
preparation." The consequence is, that what the 
framers expressly intended to avoid has come 
about, and a particular sort of education is pressed 
upon the candidates for these appointments; either 
they must get it at a special trainer's, or in a 
particular class in a school which is put into the 
hands of a particular master who has studied the 
working of the system. If the education thus 
practically enforced has injurious tendencies, then 
we are compelling a very important class, in whose 
sound cultivation we are greatly interested, to 
adopt a mode of learning which is not satisfactory. 
I will, for example's sake, name one or two of 
the influences of this kind of training which have 
come under my own observation. I have re- 
marked that damage is done to energy and con- 
centration of mind by the encouragement which 
this system gives to the " getting up " of a great 
diversity of subjects at the same time. The 
feebler the youth, the less way he can penetrate 
into any subject, — for the resistance may be 
said to vary as the square of the distance from 
the surface — and therefore the more subjects he 



Action of Examinations. 47 

must take in to give him a chance of the need- 
ful "marks." He gets to crave the stimulus of 
constant change of study, and the attempt to carry- 
many subjects in his head at once produces a 
distraction which is physically injurious ; it results 
in languor and a contempt for learning. 

Again, the trainer must pick out the subjects to 
be taken in according to the marks they are likely 
to yield, not according to the good they are likely 
to do the candidates. A youth who is averse to 
a certain study often requires particularly the dis- 
cipline of that study ; a muddle-headed youth 
needs geometry ; an inobservant one, botany or 
the like ; but the trainer must keep each youth to 
the subjects in which he can do best ; and if any 
new subjects are to be taken, those must be chosen 
in which, by some mnemonical process, a fair show 
can be made in a short time. I have frequently 
had to prepare candidates for the Indian Civil 
Service Examinations. At first, before the ranofe 
of the Examination had been taken by the special 
trainers, the course for it ran along side by side 
with that which would be followed for educational 
purposes, and the work was satisfactory enough ; 
but of late a particular kind of preparation has 
been thought necessary. I have also frequently 
Jiad as my pupils in College, those who had just 



48 General View of the 

failed in getting an appointment — these are not 
likely to be very different in their mental character 
from those who had just succeeded — and I have 
found very generally indeed, that those who had 
gone through a series of such trials, had the same 
kind of mental defect. They were usually, for a 
long time, incapable of giving their minds steadily 
to any subject requiring close attention. 

We see then with regard to competitive 
Examinations, that evils arise from their employ- 
ment which represent as it were the moral defect 
which rendered them necessary, and we shall find 
something analogous in the case of compulsory 
qualifying Examinations : on these I must now 
make a few remarks. 

Just as some persons are urged to put out all 
their capacities in battling for pre-eminence, so 
there are many people in the world who are saved 
from torpor of mind or body by having to win 
their bread. "Must," says the proverb, "is a 
hard master." So when young people are re- 
hearsing under education their parts for life, 
something must stand for this stern but salutary 
necessity of doing one's daily work. Thus coercion 
steps in where competition fails. 

There are many youths who have little aptitude 
for anything that is intellectual ; their attainments 



Action of Examinations. 49 

will never have any market value, but they them- 
selves may be improved in a very great degree : 
their brains will grow and harden under steady ex- 
ercise. The youth who, if left to hang about home, 
becomes densely stupid and good for nothing, 
might have become a useful person with average 
practical sense, if he had been properly handled 
at the important time when the brains take their 
shape. 

Dull youths require strong motives to make 
them use their minds ; people will tell you that 
some subject could be found which would interest 
them, and if you may include field-sports or games 
in this word " subject," the observation is true ; if 
not, it is not borne out by my experience as a 
general proposition, though it holds good in par- 
ticular cases. The aversion of idle boys is to 
brain-work as brain-work; and in the majority of 
cases their dislike to it depends less on the kind 
of work than on the intensity of it. As they get 
older, and the business of life comes in sight, they 
will often take a genuine interest in what bears 
on their future career. 

Some motive, however, must be supplied mean- 
while to spur them to the salutary exercise of their 
minds; we should be glad to find such motives as 
sense of duty, confidence in teachers, and kindly 

L. 4 



50 General View of the 

encouragement sufficient for the occasion. Hap- 
pily in many instances they are so, but they often 
require to be supplemented by some kind of coer- 
cion, and the form in which this is most conveni-- 
ently administered in our days is that of a quali- 
fying Examination ; or, what acts much more effect- 
ively, a course of Examinations so arranged as to 
supply constant and appropriate mental exercise. 
The necessity then for compulsory Examinations 
arises from the wide-spread human failing of lazi- 
ness, and we shall see that the increased call for 
them arises in part from the growing disinclination 
to exercise authority or to oblige any one by direct 
compulsion to do what is disagreeable to him. 

It makes all personal relations much smoother 
to shift the duty of exacting work off the teacher's 
shoulders and put it on a relentless piece of 
mechanism. The pupil may then be brought to 
look on the teacher as an ally and a guide, and an 
indulgent parent may even consent to the exercise 
of some pressure on the master's part, rather than 
have his son devoured by the pitiless monster 
"pluck." In this way such Examinations help 
the master to regain some of his waning autho- 
rity, but the spirit of the instruction is affected ; 
the boy allows that the master's duty is *'to keep 
him up to work," not because it is wicked for him 



Action of Examinations. 5 1 

to be idle, but because the master is bound to get 
him through, and unless the teacher be preserved 
by high personal qualities, there is a danger of 
his coming to be regarded as a skilled confederate 
in a game. 

Two causes of the extension of the demand for 
compulsory examinations call for especial mention. 

One of these is the increased need of requiring 
a certain standard of ability and acquirement as 
a qualification for various positions in life ; and 
the second is the growing aversion to the exercise 
of authority, either parental or scholastic, which 
has been already spoken of, and the anxiety to 
find a stimulus which shall take its place. 

The first named cause comes partly from the 
increasing severity of the struggle for existence 
and partly from the extension of the province of 
scientific knowledge. Formerly there were three 
" learned professions " — now the army and navy 
would claim to be added to the list — and many 
kinds of business require a special knowledge 
which, to be effective, should be based on some- 
thing like a liberal education. In all these callings 
men are wanted who have a certain amount of 
brains and have learned the use of them ; this use 
they do not get without education. Examinations 
are in consequence instituted to test this educa- 

4—2 



52 General View of the 

tlon ; and It was at first taken for granted that 
by the examining process, the quaHty of the 
education or the ability of the man could be tested 
as accurately as a ganger could estimate the 
amount of alcohol in a sample of spirits. 

But the examiner does not test qualities of 
mind directly, he only infers them from the answers 
to questions: for these answers he gives "marks", 
and by these marks the result is determined. No 
doubt in looking over papers a practised examiner 
does see a good way into the character of a man's 
mind, he gets an impression over and above his 
marks ; but of his marking he must, in the case 
of many government appointments, be prepared 
to give an account — he is told to note every word 
or figure that is wrong, and an impression is not a 
thing easy to justify, so he assigns his marks strictly 
according to the correctness of each answer as it 
stands. He may have some notion that one man 
has got his knowledge in a way that will have 
done him good, and another in a way that will not, 
but this must not affect his appraisement. 

We here come to one of the great difficulties 
of the Examination system. A teacher is edu- 
cating a pupil by means of geometry or by means 
of the analysis of sentences In a foreign tongue, 
but the education given is not proportional to the 



Action of Examinations. 53 

geometry or the linguistic knowledge acquired in 
the process. Two boys of equal ability may be 
taken in hand by different teachers, . and at the 
end of a certain time one will be able to write 
out fifty propositions while another can only write 
out twenty, but the latter may have got much the 
most education of the two ; for every proposition 
may have been made the basis of a discussion 
which has forced him to use not only his memory 
but his mind. Again, one may have learned five 
books of an author with a translation, and knows 
no more of the language than when he began ; 
and another has done one book without such help, 
and has learned how to unravel a passage by him- 
self. Speaking more generally, one man has 
learned to apply his mind and to work with 
method, while another can only learn bits given 
him by a tutor, and yet the score of the two may 
be the same. The result is that a student may be 
trained to get marks, without possessing the quali- 
ties which the marks are supposed to indicate. 
The weight of so many yards of cotton cloth was 
supposed to be proportioned to its substance, but 
a way has been discovered of communicating 
weight by the sizing. Something of this kind we 
may fear takes place now and then in getting up 
an article for the examination market, and the 



54 General View of the 

demoralization thus produced is the more griev- 
ous because the article in question happens to be 
a young human being. 

We used to hear it said, "How does it matter 
in what way the knowledge has been got so that 
it is there ?" Now we know better. It does make 
all the difference how a man has learned and 
still more how a boy has learned ; he may get 
the use of his brains in learning, or he may have 
got the results of some kind of learning by some 
process which wants no use of brains. He may 
have got a smattering of a modern language by 
some of the processes which are advertised as 
ensuring a power of talking French in three 
months to "persons of the lowest capacity." Be- 
sides there is knowledge and knowledge ; there 
is that which has soaked in and saturated the 
system and that which has been poured in quickly 
and runs out as fast. I set very little value on 
the verdict of a single Examination in given sub- 
jects. I should think far more of the fact that 
a youth had gone creditably through a school 
with an able master, and had been a year in the 
6th form, than that he should have obtained a 
pocket full of certificates for Examinations in spe- 
cific subjects away from his school. The value 
of Examinations, excepting those of the highest 



Action of Examinations. 5 5 

kind, is far greater as an engine in the hands of 
the teacher to keep the pupil to definite work 
than as a criterion. What they chiefly shew is 
a power of carrying matter in the memory ; and 
as this power cannot have been obtained without 
work, we may infer indeed that the pupil has some 
steadiness of purpose — but the value of this work 
again depends on circumstances, for it may have 
been done under pressure, when the boy was 
under the master's eye, and could not escape ; or 
on the other hand it may have been done when 
the youth was in the midst of temptations to 
amuse himself and when he steadily exercised a 
mastery over himself. The distinction in moral 
value between work done freely and work en- 
forced by close supervision is one that must be 
kept well in view. The superior value of work 
done at the University over that done at school 
as a guarantee of moral power rests very much 
on this distinction, and many of the disappoint- 
ments arising from the failure at college of boys 
who have got scholarships from school arise from 
the want of this moral power. 

I have spoken of the growing aversion to 
exercise authority as another cause which has 
operated to increase the demand for examinations. 
Children at the present time are treated with 



56 General View of the 

much more indulgence than they formerly were ; 
they are no longer kept at a distance either by 
their fathers or their schoolmasters, they are 
encouraged to think that their pleasures and 
amusements demand great consideration, and a 
much more friendly and confidential relation is 
established between them and their elders. So 
long as this is effected without any loss of autho- 
rity on the part of the parents it is an unmixed 
good. But there are many circumstances in the 
present day which are unfavourable to the main- 
tenance of this authority. There has been much 
wealth recently acquired, by persons of little culti- 
vation, and their sons soon see that their educa- 
tion has ofiven them an advantagfe over their 
parents. Again, many fathers who are hard 
at work and have little opportunity for spending 
money upon themselves, delight in heaping in- 
dulgences on their children, and will smile com- 
placently at the easy way in which young mas- 
ter assumes that the world about him is to be 
fashioned for his convenience. 

Moreover, I am not sure whether the current 
philosophies of the day have not had an effect 
in this direction. Viewed cursorily they leave 
many young people with the impression that they 
are to look solely to getting all the enjoyment out 



Action of Examinations. 5 7 

of existence they can. Now, if enjoyment is to 
be the object of life, the time spent in hard 
study by an unwilhng boy is a great sacrifice 
for an uncertain good ; while in order to become 
a good shot, a good horseman, or a good cricketer, 
he need only follow his favourite pursuits, and 
he gets an accomplishment which will be a re- 
source to him throuo-h life. Hence gfreat value 
is set on practical accomplishments, and the 
authority of the parent does not always act on 
the side of the tutors, who are beginning to 
see ill effects from the worship of athletic sports. 
For all but highly educated parents think in their 
hearts pretty much as the boys do about the 
worthlessness of those studies which do not yield 
some accomplishment to shew. Mr Brown is re- 
presented as saying to himself in Tom Browns 
School Days, *' I might tell him to work hard and 
mind his Latin and Greek, but he knows I don't 
care a pin about them." 

Thus the authority of the parents, so far from 
supporting that of the schoolmaster, often runs 
counter to it ; they will keep their sons at home 
when the holidays are over, or beg for them to 
be let to leave school for a day or two on very 
slight grounds, perhaps merely to take part in 
some amusement ; for there never was a time, as 



5 8 General View of the 

one of our leading statesmen has told us, when 
the wealthier classes in England thought so much 
of amusement. Now even if all boys had fortunes 
waiting for them, and were free from all pecuniary 
necessity for " bothering themselves about learn- 
ing," as they express it, yet the schoolmaster 
cannot see minds running to waste without grief. 
Moreover, idleness involves disorder in a school, 
and will probably lead to vice, and yet the mas- 
ter finds himself too weak to enforce diligence ; 
he experiences a great difficulty in making a boy 
do what he does not like ; he invents new kinds 
of study, in hopes that boys may dislike them less 
than the rigorous ^* old-fashioned classics and ma- 
thematics;" but these "modern studies" too often 
turn out to be neither study nor play^. The idle 
boy sees his advantage in taking to a study where 
he has only to look at experiments or to listen to 



1 I cannot forbear quoting the following passage from the Autobiography 
of Mr John Stuart Mill : — "Much must be done, and much must be learnt, 
by children, for which rigid discipline, and known liability to punishment, 
are indispensable as means. It is, no doubt, a very laudable effort, in 
modern teaching, to render as much as possible of what the young are 
required to learn, easy and interesting to them. But when this principle is 
pushed to the length of not requiring them to learn anything hit what has 
been made easy and interesting, one of the chief objects of education is 
sacrificed. I rejoice in the decline of the old brutal and tyrannical system 
of teaching, which, however, did succeed in enforcing habits of application ; 
but the new, as it seems to me, is training up a race of men who will be 
incapable of doing anything which is disagreeable to them. " 



Action of Examinations. 59 

what is told him, and where the subject cannot be 
put definitely in the shape of a lesson. Finally, the 
master is driven either to take up with the idea 
that with half the boys intellectual cultivation Is 
hopeless, and that he must content himself with 
keeping them out of harm's way, or he casts about 
him for some kind of compulsion. He then finds 
that there Is hardly any kind of punishment to the 
infliction of which there is not a grave objection on 
some score, and at last he turns to Examinations 
to provide him with the stimulus which school- 
masters used to provide for themselves, and these 
Examinations are required quite as much to keep 
parents alive to their duty as to keep boys up to 
their work. When the Local Examinations were 
first set on foot, a schoolmaster observed to me, 
" I cannot afford to punish ; parents tell us that we 
are to use moral suasion, which means that we 
should go down on our knees to the boys, and 
beg them to learn their lessons, but we get tired 
of this posture after a time, and so we are very 
grateful to you for giving us these Examinations 
to set before the boys." 

Hence tutors and schoolmasters have urged 
the Universities to set up various kinds of Ex- 
aminations which shall act upon the mass of boys. 
The Examination of an entire school In the whole 



6o General View of the 



of the school-work is a most wholesome and effec- 
tive proceeding : it leaves the master free to direct 
the studies as he thinks fit : it gives a sanction to 
the course of work he has marked out, and it 
keeps him and his assistants on the alert. Unfor- 
tunately, however, an Examination cannot now be 
floated even in school on mere authority or from 
the love of distinction. Boys will not work merely 
for the approbation of masters; there must be 
something to be got by it; the consequence is, 
that some kind of Certificate has to be given, 
and some market value must be attached to the 
Certificate; this being done, it will be said to be 
unfair to confine the advantage attached to this 
Certificate to those who are at certain schools. 
Hence it becomes necessary to open the Examina- 
tion to all comers, and the position then becomes 
altogether changed— for instead of the Examina- 
tion giving a sanction to a particular kind of teach- 
ing, and being subordinated to it, as is the case 
in the Examination of a school, it becomes simply 
a challenge held up to the world: boys will be 
sent to certain trainers not to be educated but 
to be got through ; with these trainers the teach- 
ing has to be subordinated to the given Exa- 
mination, the old struggle of "crammer" and 
" examiner" is renewed, and the tone of the tuition 



Action of Examinations. 6i 

as well as the authority of the teacher with his pupil 
suffers accordingly. 

It may be asked whether Qualifying Exa- 
minations are found necessary in other countries 
in order to strengthen the hands of the school- 
master. 

The answer must be, that in France the higher 
education is directed to certain qualifying Ex- 
aminations, namely those for the bi^evet of Bache- 
lier es Lettres, and Bachelier es Sciences ; these 
bar the way to the professions and to most de- 
partments of the public service. It should also 
be observed that the Lyceums which prepare lads 
for these Examinations are under government 
control, and in these establishments, although 
corporal punishment is forbidden, other inflictions 
are very frequent, and such as few English parents 
would allow their sons to be subjected to. The 
withdrawal of a certain portion of the daily food, 
never too ample in a Lyceum, is the form of 
punishment mostly in vogue. My impression is, 
that parents in France have lost their authority 
over their children more than they have in 
England, and I doubt whether the interference 
of the state through its Lyceums and its Maisons 
Paternelles, which latter are positive prisons for 
unruly boys, may not really weaken parental 



62 General Vieiu of the 

authority by leading both parents and boys to 
look to something external to, and more stringent 
than, domestic government. Neither do French 
parents, as a rule, value learning for its own sake 
more than we do in England. 1 have seen bro- 
chicres on Education which represent French pa- 
rents as regarding the state Examinations with 
terror and hatred. 

The result of the French system has been 
unsatisfactory, but that of Germany may be con- 
sidered successful. Parents are there far more 
on the side of learning than they are in England 
or in France ; but, so far from doing without 
coercion for the idle, we shall find it supplied in a 
very stringent shape. 

Education in Germany is much more in the 
hands of the state than it is with us, or than the 
temper of the English people at present would 
allow it to be. A boy is pretty much taken out 
of the hands of his parents. In order for a boy 
in Prussia to qualify himself for a profession or 
for the principal branches of the public service, 
he must go regularly through the classes of a 
Gymnasium. Hence some of our great difficulties 
do not there present themselves, or do so in a 
much less degree. There are few irregularly 
educated youths; there are none answering to 



Action of Exainmations. 63 

those who come at the age of 16 and 17 from 
AustraHa or New Zealand very moderately pre- 
pared, and who need to be got ready for the 
Universities or for some Examination which 
stands at the entrance of a Profession in a very 
short time ; neither does the state feel called upon 
to avoid giving an advantage to those who have 
been educated in a particular way; a necessity 
which with us causes one of the main difficulties 
in the Examination for the Indian Civil Service 
appointments. The Examinations in Prussia have 
all reference to an established course of instruc- 
tion, and in many cases the place of a youth in 
the classes of the Gymnasium, and the report of 
his general work, are taken into account together 
with the results of the Examination itself. 

As regards coercion, the schoolmaster is sup- 
plied with a more powerful engine to enforce indus- 
try than has ever been placed in the hands of any 
other scholastic body. This is furnished by the 
compulsory military service. Unless a youth can 
pass an Examination to qualify him for the highest 
class but one in the school, and unless he continue 
in that class, conducting himself with diligence for 
a year, he cannot obtain the privilege awarded to 
educated persons of serving in the army for a 
single year instead of three, and that in the town 



64 • General View of the 

where he may be hving — but he must serve for 
three years in a barrack as a common soldier. 
This is a great terror, and it keeps dull youths 
working at school in perfect obedience, long after 
the time when they would have left school in 
England. The masters complain that 75 per 
cent, of the boys leave directly the desired ex- 
emption is obtained. 

The fact that the German system has been on 
the whole successful while that of France has 
proved a failure, illustrates the working of a very 
important principle, to which I have frequently 
alluded. In Prussia, the Examination is sub- 
ordinate to the teaching, while in France the 
teaching is subordinate to the Examination. The 
Examinations in a German Gymnasium are con- 
ducted by the teachers themselves, though in the 
presence and under the control of a government 
official. Thus the independence of the teacher, 
his self-respect and sense of responsibility, are 
maintained, while sufficient external supervision 
is introduced to prevent laxity or collusion. In 
France, on the other hand, a minute programme 
is put forth by the government, and the busi- 
ness of a Professor at the Lyceum is simply to 
prepare pupils to pass in an Examination in the 
subjects thus definitely marked cut. In the con- 



Action of Examinations. 65 

duct of this Examination the Professors have no 
part, neither can they readily make themselves 
heard, if they desire any modification of the pre- 
scribed course. '* We are not the educating body," 
say the Professors, "the State constructs the ma- 
chine of education, and it only gives us a handle 
to turn." In all systematic education there must 
be indeed a mechanical organization, but the vital 
element is free human action, — the main good 
which the pupil gets is from contact with a 
superior mind. If the teacher can give no play 
to the bent of his own intellect, if he have only to 
drill the pupil in a prescribed course, if his own 
thoughts or views can find no place in the Exami- 
nation, he will not care to occupy his pupil with 
them, and the pupil will not attend to them if he 
does ; so after a time the teacher will keep his 
thoughts to himself, or possibly he may cease to 
think; at any rate the pupil will only come into 
contact with the husk of the man, and not with 
the real human being himself. 

It is one of the drawbacks to the use of 
Examinations in general that they tend to crush 
spontaneity both in the pupil and the teacher; and 
this tendency is far greater when the Examination 
is supreme and external to the teaching, than 
when the teachings and examinino- bodies are 



66 General View of the 



one, or when in some way each can influence 
the other. 

The French have exaggerated and perfec- 
tionated the mechanical element in education ; the 
minister of Public Instruction can boast that he 
can tell at any moment what lesson every boy in 
France is learning, but in so doing they have 
destroyed the human element, and they are be- 
ginning to find that it is only men that can make 
men, and that a system of machinery worked by 
wires from a centre, however ingeniously it may 
be constructed, turns out but poor imitations of 
humanity. How fully the Athenians grasped the 
truth on which I have just dwelt, is seen from their 
word for attendance on a great man's teaching, it 
is avpovaia — it was the improvement to be o-ot 
from Ais company which was the first thing they 
thought of.- 

We find then that Examinations are means by 
which the motive powers of competition and of 
the need of working to win bread, are brought to 
bear upon young people. The Examinations, it 
must be recollected, are not motive powers them- 
selves, but only instruments by which some other 
power is brought into play. As I have already 
said, boys ask " What is to be got by the Exami- 
nations.?" They want some distinction or some 



Action of Examinations. 67 

exemption or some professional advantage, some- 
thing in fact to shew for their labour, and there 
are many parents who view these matters much as 
their sons do. Some young men indeed will be 
actuated in the pursuit of learning by ambition, 
some by a sense of duty, some by a genuine desire 
of improvement. Where the study results imme- 
diately in professional skill, or in some other capa- 
bility of which the young man sees the advan- 
tage, it may pretty well be left to take care of 
itself: with such studies I am here but little con- 
cerned, as I confine myself to considering the case 
of a liberal education. 

But when we come to consider the induce- 
ment towards obtaining a high general cultivation, 
we shall find there will be little prospect of this 
falling to the lot of any considerable class in this 
country, or indeed in any country, unless some 
outlay is incurred to recompense persons for ob- 
taining it. In England this want is met by the 
rewards and endowments of the Universities, as it 
is in Germany by the large number of Professor- 
ships and other emoluments open to persons of 
high cultivation. In the German empire alone 
there are near 1000 salaried Professors in Univer- 
sities. In Austria and Switzerland there are also 
many. A chapter will be given to the subject of 

5-2 



68 General View of the 

Fellowships and Scholarships, and I shall perhaps 
have occasion hereafter to contrast the induce- 
ments to study held out in England and in Ger- 
many^. 

It is often asked, " Why should you pay a man 

^ It will be sufficient here, in order to shew that if you are to have a 
larger cultivated class, you must make it worth people's while to obtain cul- 
tivation — to call attention to the length of the list of candidates for honours 
at those universities where there are emoluments, and to contrast it with 
the scanty roll at those where there are none. It may be said also that of 
the few candidates for honours at the scantily endowed universities, a large 
proportion are buoyed up by the hope of obtaining a reward subsequently 
at Oxford or Cambridge ; thus the capital, so to say, of these two universi- 
ties helps to work all the others in Great Britain. 

In Germany, where public life and professional careers offer poorer pros- 
pects than with us, a larger number of young men of ability adopt learning 
as a profession ; but the number of persons who have high attainments in a 
branch of science or literature, without looking to this as their profession, 
would, I think, be found to be less than with us in England. This has 
been observed to me in Germany, both by natives and English residents, 
and I see the same stated in the evidence given by Dr Perry, who was for 
many years at Bonn, before the Select Committee on University Educa- 
tion in the year 1867 (pp. 266, 7). Statesmen in Germany do not write 
on Greek literature, or on the astronomy of the ancients, or translate 
Homer into verse. In no other country than England are there persons of 
so high an order of cultivation writing for the public press and for 
periodicals. The advantage of this to the public is incalculable; it 
nationalizes the results of our educational foundations in an effective 
way. 

A German once observed to me, on taking up an English magazine 
which I had with me, I think it was the Coi'uhill, — "We have nothing 
like this, and we have no class of persons suited to write anything of the 
sort. We have endless scientific journals ; they are written by men of 
leai-ning for men of learning, but we have not the class of cultivated 
gentlemen who will put good criticism or the results of science into an 
attractive form, and the fertility of you Englishmen in works of fiction, and 
well-written books of travel, is to us surprising." 



Action of Examinations. 69 

for doing what is for his own good ?" and the 
answer is that the country benefits by the exist- 
ence of a considerable class of highly educated 
persons, and that you would not have this class 
if you did not pay for it ; for a liberal education 
certainly does not bring a sure return in the way 
of "getting on." A ■ millionaire has often made 
his way without a high education, and probably 
would not have made more money if he had had 
this advantage. Again, the extent of every branch 
of study is increasing; time, labour and money 
must be invested freely in order to acquire high 
attainments, and young men, or rather parents, 
will not engage in such an investment without a 
good prospect of its securing some palpable ad- 
vantages. A father will say, " I should be glad 
for my son to be an accomplished scholar for his 
own sake, just as I should like my daughter to 
play the harp, but I cannot afford it as a luxury. 
Shew me that my money will be spent as an 
investment, and I will consider it. I shall be 
ready to make some personal sacrifice on account 
of the pleasure I shall find in my son's profit 
and distinction ; but in educating my son I must 
first see my way to his getting his bread." The 
question of the proper proportions of the funds to 
be spent on rewards and on the other functions 



70 General View of the 

which collegfe endowments fulfil will be dealt with 
in another chapter. 

A political element also enters into the ques- 
tion, for if it were not for such endowments high 
general cultivation must become nearly the mono- 
poly of the wealthy class. Now such cultivation 
makes itself more felt perhaps in a political career 
than in any other, especially in the higher part 
of the career: a self-educated man, though he may 
have great force of character and much power 
of seizing on salient points, usually fails in certain 
particulars — fails in the power of amalgamation 
with others, for instance, or in that of looking 
readily at a great whole from different points of 
view, and these deficiencies are most apparent in 
the highest positions. Hence if our statesmen 
are not to come in an undue proportion from the 
upper strata, we must let down shafts by which 
the material which is below can come to the sur- 
face — such shafts our University endowments 
supply. The political feeling of the present day 
brings very forcibly to men's minds the need of 
such shafts or ladders ; public attention is much 
directed to the machinery by which they are 
worked, and consequently it is especially directed 
to Examinations, which are the most important 
engines employed. 



Action of Exdminaiions. 7 1 

It will be worth while to turn aside for a 
moment to the economical aspect of the question ; 
for although the matter will be fully discussed 
later on, it will be well to have some clear ideas 
on this point to carry with us in the histo- 
rical notices which will be given in the next 
chapter. 

I will take as an illustration an apparently in- 
congruous thing — a cattle-show. We have heard 
lately that a short-horned cow has been sold for 
^5000. She represents ;^5ooo worth of thought, 
risk, and outlay, but her milk and her calves will 
never bring ;^50oo to her owner. How then is 
it worth any one's while to call her into existence ? 
It is so because she can win this money and more 
in prizes at ^^igricultural shows. Now these prizes 
are subscribed for by persons interested in agricul- 
ture because they think they get a return for 
their money by improving the breed of cattle; 
by calling into being a race of animals which will 
carry much flesh or give much milk on cheap 
food, or fulfil some other conditions highly valued 
by the grazier. What then we have to shew for 
the money contributed is not only this cow or her 
progeny, but a large number of cows very nearly 
as good, which have been bred in the hope that 
one of them might turn out a first-rate animal : 



72 , General View of the 

the existence of these materially improves the 
cattle and increases the wealth of the country. So 
when asked what we have to shew for fellowships 
and scholarships, we point not only to the fortu- 
nate competitors, but to the general high standard 
of attainment caused by the competition itself; 
we point not only to the honour lists above-named, 
but to the sixth forms of the various schools : 
these would be smaller, and the subjects taught 
less advanced, if there were, so to say, no market 
for high attainments : we might further point to the 
many cultivated persons who, some in their pro- 
fessions and some by writing for the press, are 
keeping up an elevated tone in English social life. 
These advantages result from the prizes of learn- 
ing, just as the improvement in the breed of cattle 
is effected by the money subscribed as prizes in 
the shows. 

We may further consider how this money is 
distributed : it does not really all go to the for- 
tunate competitor, for he may have had to spend 
a larger sum in getting his education than he other- 
wise would, so that part of it goes to the tutors 
and to the schoolmasters in the higher schools. 
Moreover, this is one of those cases in which, like 
mining speculations, the gambling spirit enters, so 
that. far; more money is spent in reading for fellow- 



Action of Examinatio7is. 73 

ships and Indian Civil Service appointments than 
is received from them ; and thus the educational 
profession benefits immensely by the impulse 
caused by these emoluments. Indeed, we may 
say, that the special tutors for the Indian Service 
are In part paid by the Government, for a parent 
anxious to get an appointment for his son has to 
invest ;^300 more in his son's education than 
he otherwise would, and he looks to the amount 
of the salary, and to the prospects in India, to 
repay the outlay and the risk, so that if the 
stipend had been originally merely what a man 
would do the work for, the government would 
have had to raise it when they introduced the 
system of Competitive Examination. 

It appears, from comparing the published 
marks of the successful candidates for some years 
past, that the attainments of those who succeed 
are gradually declining : the cause of this may be 
the increasing cost of the special preparation. 
Parents can find something better for a clever 
boy at less outlay. 

There is one danger which meets us In Ex- 
aminations, although It Is not confined to them, 
which I must point out here, as we shall fre- 
quently have to guard against it. Whenever 
acquirements are to be turned to account In a 



74 General View oj the 

particular way, either by being displayed in an 
Examination or otherwise, the form which these 
acquirements will take will be affected by the 
mode in which they are to find their reward. In 
old times the glory of scholars was to maintain a 
thesis in a disputation ; they went on disputing 
in schools all their lives, and we see that all their 
learning was cast into a dialectic form; they 
sought not so much to attain truth as to be 
irrefragable : this spirit may be traced in much of 
the literature of the middle ages. So in our time 
there is a danger that some of our studies may be 
thrown into a conventional form by the influence 
of Examinations. 

We might study a subject in one way if 
we wanted to keep it by us as a possession, 
and in a very different way if we wanted only 
to answer questions on it, or work problems in 
it on paper, and that in a given and very limited 
time. Again, a subject taken on one side may 
be much less adapted for Examination than when 
taken on another ; one part of it or one way 
of treating it may yield examples or illustra- 
tions, or be made the means of shewing that 
the student has really assimilated it. This side 
of the subject will be the favourite field of Exa- 
miners, and the attention of the student will there- 



Action of Examinations. 75 

fore be turned in this direction, and other parts 
of the subject, which may be no less important, 
but which may yield no principles which can be 
readily applied, and be in other respects ill suited 
for Examination, will be comparatively neglected. 
The writing of an essay under Examination would 
seem to be a capital means of finding what there 
is in a man's mind, and if none of the candidates 
had been trained for such an Examination, their 
productions might afford some criterion of their 
mental fertility and powers of expression, but my 
experience on this point quite brings me to agree 
with Mr Mark Pattison^ in his mistrust of essays 
produced in Examinations when young men are 
trained to write them. Such training, he observes, 
is apt to lead to the ready appropriation of the re- 
sults of " modern thought " without going through 
the process of thinking : he shews that the effect of 
this is enervating, and says that the teaching of 
the Honour Schools at Oxford (in 1868) seems 
directed to fit men to write pointed but shallow 
leading articles. 

Considered even as a test of capacity of 
writing, the production of a dissertation under 
Examination is not quite satisfactory; by forcing 

^ Suggestions on Academical Orgatiization, Mark Pattison, B.D. Edin- 
burgh, Edmonston and Douglas, pp, 294-5. 



76 General View of Examinations. 

a man to write on the spur of the moment without 
authorities to which he may refer, we are trying 
him under very exceptional conditions, and we are 
therefore calHng into existence a special and parti- 
cular art: whereas our object should be to see what 
the man could produce if he sat down to write an 
essay under no extraordinary circumstances, but 
with the usual opportunities for reference and re- 
vision. If these could be allowed, an essay might 
be made an excellent test of certain qualities of 
mind. To this point I shall have to recur. 



CHAPTER III. 

HISTORICAL NOTICES. DISPUTATIONS. 

From the History of Universities we may gather 
much that will be of use to us in pursuing our 
subject. It would carry me beyond my limits to 
enter upon a connected account of the growth of 
Examinations; I can only deal with a few stages 
of their progress, and I must take those which 
will serve best to "point a moral," or to bring out 
some of the more general principles which govern 
their working. 

We have already seen enough to shew what 
we might have expected beforehand, that as soon 
as by means of an Examination or any equiva- 
lent contrivance intellectual acquirements may be 
turned into honour or profit — as soon, that is, as 
learning through such instrumentality acquires a 
directly exchangeable value — then its production 
and distribution will be governed by certain laws. 

In the beginning of the nth century we find 



7 8 Historical Notices. 

among the south-western nations of Christendom 
all the tokens of renewed youth. The spirit of 
that time stands in strong contrast with the listless 
despondency which had prevailed a century or two 
before. 

The successive deluges of semi -barbarian 
hordes had then ceased ; people could look on 
their country as their own — probably, too, the 
mixture of races which had ensued from these 
invasions had improved the physical vigour and 
the energy of the populations. 

Lastly, there was a cause in operation to which 
some writers attach much importance. Christen- 
dom was recovering from the scare of the im- 
pending destruction of the world ; the terrible 
thousandth year had passed away without any 
threatenings of universal conflagration. So long 
as people were looking to the extinction of all 
things utter prostration naturally prevailed, it was 
of no use to cultivate the land, still less to educate 
the young, if the world were on the brink of 
destruction. 

From this there came a great rebound. The 
world woke out of its hideous nightmare with a 
belief that a great future was in store for it.- It 
had not been spared for nothing. The failure of 
the expectation threw no doubt or discredit on 



Disputations. 79 



religion. The world, it was said, had had its 
existence renewed to be a scene for the triumph 
of the Faith. Happily a healthy tone was, in this 
way, given to religious sentiment. To believe 
that the world was spared for great things under 
God's guidance, and that the men of that day were 
given the duty of setting these great things afoot, 
could not but have an invigorating and elevating 
effect. 

Great enterprises were undertaken, monas- 
teries were founded or restored, vast cathedrals 
were planned and commenced, and institutions 
which were to mould the manners of future gene- 
rations, feudalism, chivalry, and universities, sprang 
up. The last-named were not perfected by 
founders and laid down according to a design 
made out beforehand — they did not embody the 
ideas of one man or of a set of men — they grew 
up, because a need had made itself felt among 
people who had energy enough to set about 
meeting it in a way that should serve both their 
own time, and time to come. 

A boy plans his career, and In his own mind 
he is to be young all through, only bigger, and 
all about him is to be always the same as it is 
then. The generation I am speaking of worked 
in a spirit not unlike this, and it argued youth 



8o Historical Notices. 

and strong vitality in the race. They never 
doubted but that the great things which they set 
going would last, and grow, and be of the same 
service to posterity which they were to them. 
This confidence lay so deep in them, that it was 
free from all self-consciousness ; it could not have 
come from a want of familiarity with violence or 
danger, for men then went with their lives in their 
hands. There were wars and calamities con- 
stantly about them, but these only troubled the 
surface of things, and the foundation of what we 
call ''society" rested in the depths. Doubt was 
then unknown, or at least hidden ; religious belief 
was unquestioned and supreme, and this lay at 
the foundation of all their structures. Districts 
might change their masters, and individuals were 
subject to sudden changes of fortune and laid 
their account to meeting with them, but it was 
taken for granted that the orders of chivalry, the 
monasteries, and the universities were part of 
the necessary order of things. Men will always 
invest their interest and their energy in what 
gives promise of lasting, and what will enable 
them to carry their views forward, and so they 
threw their whole hearts in those days into the 
corporate existence in which they were bound up ; 
they could conceive that as going on in the way 



Disptttations. 



they had known it, after they and their children 
should have perished. So too contrariwise, when 
individuals can live in assured comfort, but insti- 
tutions are threatened, the temptation is not to 
care about the latter overmuch, but to concentrate 
interest on personal or family well-being. 

Early in the nth century, security and pros- 
perity w^ere in some degree restored to Italy; 
property increased, and the need of law to regu- 
late transactions was soon felt ; people bethought 
them of the codes, and of the works of the jurists 
which had formed the great boast of Imperial 
Rome. They had been forgotten, but a company 
of students at Boloo^na devoted themselves to the 
revival of this study, much as a body of persons 
might now form a club or a society for the cul- 
tivation of some science or art. 

After a time (a. d. 1158) this school of Law 
obtained a charter of incorporation from the Em- 
peror Frederic I, which emancipated the students 
from the municipal jurisdiction and gave them 
courts of their own. Students resorting from all 
quarters to Bologna formed a society which had 
nothing in common with the people of the town in 
which they happened to be residing, and by whom 
they were probably looked on as a prey. This 
made them seek special privileges, and in those 
L. 6 



1 



82 Historical Notices. 

times it was quite usual for the jurisdiction under 
which a man Hved to be dependent on personal 
and not local considerations. Hence arose that 
Studenten Recht, and immunity of the student from 
municipal courts which we still find in Germany, 
though it is disappearing in England. I may here 
notice that tmiversitas is simply the Latin word 
for a corporation, meaning " the whole regarded as 
one," and that it has nothing whatever to do with 
the object of the corporation — it might be applied 
to a civic guild — it has obtained its special mean- 
ing from the circumstance that incorporated bodies 
of learned men were the most dignified corpora- 
tion, — the corporation/^r excellence — in early times. 
I should hardly have mentioned this fact, now 
very generally known, but we occasionally still 
find writers who fancy that the name university 
implies universality in the range of subjects taught. 
Bologna, we see, was a tmiversitas while as yet 
only a school of law ; theology and medicine were 
introduced later. We get glimpses of the ques- 
tioning of students in these early days, and even 
centuries before, in schools of grammar and rhe- 
toric, but as we cannot find that anything ex- 
cepting praise or punishment resulted from it, we 
may conclude that examining was then nothing 
more than catechetical teaching. 



Disputations. 83 

As Bologna had set afoot an isolated school 
of law, so at Paris shortly after a school of "artes" 
arose ; to this was soon added one of Theology 
which became the leading faculty. 

All the Universities of northern Europe were 
framed after that of Paris. The similarity of usages, 
and the general use of the Latin tongue, tended to 
bring about a freemasonry of learned men, which 
had influences to which I can only direct attention 
as I pass by. A student from Oxford or Cam- 
bridge might enter the schools of Paris, or Prague, 
or Cracow, and find disputations carried on in the 
form with which he was familiar, and the same 
authorities cited as settling a question. A Doctor 
at one university was a Doctor everywhere. The 
authority for granting the diploma was supposed to 
emanate from the Pope and thus to hold good 
through Christendom. Our Lambeth decrees 
represent this Papal power inherited by our Pri- 
mate. Even now, a Doctor is created at Bonn 
and elsewhere in Germany with the same cere- 
monies, the presenting with the book and the ring, 
the placing the cap on the head, and the accolade, 
and in the very same form of words with which 
Doctors were created at Cambridge twenty years 
ago. 

The fact that Paris began with arts, and 

6—2 



84 Historical Notices. 

Bologna with law, which comes to this, that 
the school at Paris was framed originally with a 
view to a liberal education, and that of Bologna 
to a technical one, had a consequence of which 
we still trace the effects. 

A student in law would generally be older 
then a student in arts ; besides this he had a 
stronger inducement to learn, he wanted to qualify 
himself for practice ; every maxim of law or in- 
terpretation that he could pick up might be turned 
to account in his career; he might therefore be 
left to himself, no discipline was required in order 
to enforce diligence in his case; but the student in 
arts, besides being younger, did not usually mean 
to make his bread by any branch of the Trivium 
or Ouadrivium, and so, in his case, the stimulus 
Vi^hich the student of law found in looking to pro- 
fessional practice had to be supplied by discipline 
and emulation. Discipline requires something 
like domestic supervision, and thus it is to Paris 
that we owe the domestic element — the collesfe 
system in our English universities. Colleges 
existed for many centuries at Paris, and were only 
destroyed from political causes. 

The technical sense of the word "arts" bears 
on a point which Is important for my subject, and 
I must digress from the course of the history to 



DispiUations. '8^ 

make some remarks about it. The branches of 
study comprised In the faculty of arts were di- 
vided into two courses : the Trivium, embracing 
grammar, logic, and rhetoric; and the Ouadrivium, 
which included geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, 
and music ; of these, the Trivium was much more 
follov/ed than the Quadrivium. The point to 
which I would call attention, is this — all these 
studies resulted in acquirements which could be 
put into practice. They did not merely furnish 
the student with the knowledge of physical facts 
or of what other men had said or done, but they 
undertook to equip him and train him to perform 
certain functions or operations which required 
skill. Grammar gave the faculty of reading and 
writing Latin. LoQfIc and rhetoric furnished the 
power of arranging arguments dexterously in 
syllogisms, and of writing an effective thesis. 

"Bene disserere est finis Logices" 

was the received adage. 

Of the studies of the Quadrivium, the first 
three were directed to practical astronomy, the 
calculating of ''ascensiouns" by the astrolabe and 
the '' chlllndre," and, possibly, the casting of nati- 
vities. From these studies being classed with a 
purely practical accomplishment, music, we see in 
what light they were regarded. A man who had 



S6 Historical Notices, 

possessed himself of these arts could do a. number 
of things which other people could not. The 
complete world of knowledge contained, besides 
arts, science and humanities — science, comprising 
facts and theories which did not at once give 
a man any new department of action, though 
acquaintance with them might be of great service 
to him — and humanities, which comprehended the 
works of the great Latin writers. The latter 
improved a man by putting his mind in com- 
munication with the minds of great men, and 
bringing out what was most distinctly human in 
him, but they did not put him in possession of 
a .'fresh "art," in its technical sense. 

Early in the first chapter I observed that there 
were two classes of subjects, one of which was 
more suitable for Examination purposes than the 
other. There are studies which aim at endpwing 
the student with a power which he can be called 
on to put in practice, and others which store and 
cultivate the mind, but convey no new power that 
can be exercised — these classes of subjects we 
find, then, nearly coincide with the old division of 
the realm of knowledge into arts and sciences, 
*' Humanities," which answers to Latin literature, 
forms a middle term. The possession of a new 
language comes under the head of arts, but the 



Disputations, Z'] 



information and wisdom obtained from studying 
Latin authors, falls under that of " humanity," and 
all knowledge of facts or systems under that of 
" science." Considered with a view to Examina- 
tions, these two kinds of subjects present a broad 
distinction. The one — the arts class — admits of 
direct measurement. In these we try the student's 
acquirements by seeing how far he can do that 
which his study expressly aims at enabling him 
to do. He can be called upon, if a '' grammarian," 
to shew his scholarship by writing a piece of 
Latin ; if a logician, to detect the flaw in some 
vicious reasoning, by throwing the argument into 
syllogistic form ; if an astronomer, to find the hour 
of the day from certain observations. 

But in the class of what were then called 
" sciences " we cannot directly test the advantages 
derived from the study. These may be very 
great ; they may be wisdom or insight into human 
modes of judging, or cultivated taste, elements 
which are, with our present apparatus, not to be 
exactly weighed in an Examination : we can only 
infer their presence in greater or less degree by 
the amount we discover of certain concomitants, 
which usually accompany these precious but Im- 
ponderable elements more or less, but in no fixed 
proportion that we can determine. For instance, 



Historical Notices. 



a student of history may have got great benefit by 
reading slowly, and encouraging the suggestive 
power of his own mind, with the help of a good 
teacher, who will keep him on the alert. But we 
cannot accurately guage this benefit by questioning 
him : we cannot examine him in wisdom. We may 
indeed ask for his "views" and he will give them, 
but they will most often be a "parrotting of 
other people's notions-^." Men who are just 
come to the " thinking" stage of life fall foul 
of their own education because they were not 
made to think sooner, and try to set their pupils 
thinking in their own sense of the word; but with 
young people there is a learning stage, and a 
reasoning stage, which precede that of generalising 
or of " original thought." Teachers sometimes 
form a man's opinions by giving him their own 
ready made, and then take to themselves credit 
for having formed his mind. They have in fact 
done just the reverse, they have paralj^sed his 
mind, and given him something to prevent his 
feeling the want of a mind. Many young men of 
ability who have looked to public life have suffered 
from having fallen into the hands, either of a clique 
over-mastered by an elaborately wrought out theory, 
or of a Mentor ready to supply on every point an 

1 J. S. Mill, Autobiography. 



Disputations. 89 

original opinion spiced with that dash of para- 
dox which the palate of the clever young man 
requires. 

But what our process really discovers is, that 
the pupil has read and recollected certain histories, 
or literary works, and we infer that he has gained 
the desired benefit. Now the prospect of this 
very Examination may have prevented his so 
doing ; it may have led him to read, not in order 
to judge, but solely to recollect. He may hold the 
knowledge for a time and yet rather lose than 
gain in point of mental qualifications. 

History, however, with a due proportion of its 
attendant sciences, affords a completion of the 
higher education admirably suited for many young 
men ; and so, things being as they are, such a 
course of study must be made to lead to its share 
of the advantages to be got by Examinations, I 
believe that some kind of Examination (not solely 
depending on papers to be answered in a given 
time) may be applied to these subjects with advan- 
tage even as regards education ; but the Examina- 
tion must harmonize with a definite system of 
instruction, and the Examiners must have studied 
their profession scientifically. 

Where history and literature form an item in 
diversified Examinations of a lower order, they 



go Historical Notices. 

are very difficult to deal with satisfactorily. Ex- 
aminers are often driven to give up as hopeless the 
attempt to test directly the real good got by the 
study — the quality of the kernel itself — but they 
try to judge of it by scrutinising the husk — they ask 
questions of facts and dates, they ask for genealogies 
and "short summaries" — but these are just what 
the man who profits most cannot give them, and 
what the man who has "got up" the subject by 
means of an analysis, has at his fingers' ends. 

Moreover the husk is perishable. A student 
trained for such Examinations has called into beino- 
the particular kind of memory he wants, just as an 
animal develops in course of time the kind of leg 
or wing which his habits of life require ; and by 
means of an Examination memory, which is a 
variety of the school-boy memory, he will rapidly 
acquire a certain quantity, hold it for three days 
and then forget it for ever. 

It is this class of subjects which constitutes 
our great difficulty; if we do not examine In them, 
In the present state of things no one will pursue 
them ; but even as treated in qualifying Exami- 
nations they are of too much value to be let 
drop and must therefore be included. This leads 
to their being cultivated in a particular way with 
a view to the test applied. Any quality which 



Disputations. 9 1 



is prized in the husk will certainly be developed, 
but the kernel may be overlooked. 

Just as popular taste determines the shape in 
which a commodity must be brought to market, 
so Examinations impose a conventional form in 
the results of study, and this is especially the case 
as regards this last-named class of subjects. There 
are subjects, like English literature, of the highest 
value, which, unless the Examination be subordi- 
nate to the teaching, may lose their beneficial 
effects by being studied with a view to answering 
questions after a given pattern. 

The disputation system had the like effects, as 
we shall see on returning to the period at which 
we left our history. 

The arts of Logic and Rhetoric were then 
cultivated not in order to train the mind but for 
practical use ; they were the weapons wanted 
for controversy, and success in public disputa- 
tions led to advancement. No doubt young men 
got their wits exercised in acquiring this logic, 
just as a man gets a quick eye and a nimble hand 
in learning to fence, and we should now recom- 
mend logic as a study or fencing as an exercise 
chiefly for the faculties they cultivate ; but both the 
one and the other were required for actual self- 
defence in those days, and the slighter advantages 



92 Historical Notices. 

of the training they suppHed were lost sight 
of as compared with their actual utility. The 
student really believed that he possessed in logic 
an instrument which would lead him to new truths 
from old data, merely by a process of ratioci- 
nation ; he hoped to widen the range of human 
knowledge, and to resolve the perplexities that 
beset existence, by skill in the manipulation of 
loo^Ical forms. 

It would appear that when students first drew 
together Into Universities, the only teaching they 
got was from a sort of mutual instruction ; a 
student who had gained repute among his fellows 
gathered a little body of pupils round him, and 
thus supported himself for a few years until 
something better offered. It is characteristic of 
Universities in general that the teaching, I mean 
teaching- as distlnsfuished from Professorial Lee- 
turing, has always been very much in the hands 
of young men. 

As the Universities grew In importance it 
became necessary to insist on some proof of the 
competency of the teacher, and there was no 
better means of ascertaining this competency 
than by seeing hov/ the teacher himself could do 
what he professed to enable his pupils to do. In 
his school he taught them to dispute syllogistlcally 



Disputations. 93 

one with another, and so it was reasonable that 
he should be called on to hold such disputations 
himself in the presence of qualified judges. Here 
we have arrived at the first instance of any proof 
or evidence of qualification in the w^ay of learning 
carrying advantages with it. Students no doubt 
had always been catechised in their schools, and 
might have gained credit and comm.endation 
from their way of answering ; but now we come 
upon a recognised position and title obtained by 
the display of attainments. 

This is a very important point in our sub- 
ject, the value of acquirements instead of being 
mediate becomes iinmediate; they are no longer 
esteemed only for the improvement or increased 
capacities they bring to the individual ; a mint 
is opened, so to say, to which this knowledge 
can be brought and assayed, and cast into a 
form which shall itself carry a current value. The 
result, we shall see, was, that a great stimulus 
was given to intellectual effort in the first in- 
stance, a stimulus which we must own was 
beneficial, but that eventually mental activity 
was cramped and rendered morbid by being 
forced to expend itself in that way in which alone 
it produced a marketable commodity. I would not 
have it supposed that persons in seeking the dis- 



94 Historical Notices. 

tinctions which were to be got by learning were 
mostly actuated by what we should call mercenary 
views ; some sought no doubt for gain, but many 
also for renown ; many were not sure whether they 
really had grasped what they had been studying, 
and had got the power of bringing it out, or whether 
they really had the ability which partial friends 
ascribed to them, and these gladly took the op- 
portunity of submitting to a recognised test, more 
especially as this test rendered them that service of 
which young men of talent so often feel the need — 
it concentrated their energies in a definite channel, 
it marked out the work they had to do. 

But the appointed criterion in those days was 
not got over all at once, it was not contained in 
a single process, it was the result of a course of 
disputations and determinations^ which lasted over 
several years ; the result of this was that the 
student at the end of his course had become, 
not always a sound theologian or jurist, but at 
any rate a practised debater ; he had acquired 
some skill in logical fence and in the resolution 
of tangled questions ; he had acquired readiness 
of tongue and acuteness in drawing distinctions 

^ A student at a point of his course analogous to our B.A. was called 
on to preside over disputations, to reject inadmissible questions, to allow 
or disallow authorities, to sum up the case and give his judgment. He 
was then said qucssliouetii determmare. 



DisptUations. 95 

and catching points, but he had at the same time 
so shaped his mind to a certain groove that it 
could not move in any other. Students we are 
told were everlastingly disputing, even at meals, 
and in their walks, and what was more, they 
forced all kinds of studies into the form of 
disputation, however ill-suited they were for it ; 
even grammar, it is said, was treated in this way. 
So we now find that all branches of learning, 
however little adapted for such treatment, must 
be made the subjects of examination or they run 
great risk of being lost sight of altogether. 

The old Academical course took shape little by 
little, and at last received sanction from the govern- 
ment of the country in which the University lay, 
and also from the Pope. The old statutes in the 
Universities seem to have been tolerably pliable. 
The course they laid down extended over six or 
seven years. The student sometimes opposed a 
proposition, bringing objections in a syllogistic 
form, thus ; \i A is ^, then cadit questio ; but A 
is B, as he would shew by argument or authority, 
ergo cadit questio, to which the respondent would 
reply nego consequentiam, and a fresh issue would 
arise. Sometimes the student would appear as 
a respondent, he then wrote a Latin Essay, or 
Thesis^ as it was called, ia which he maintained 



96 Historical Notices. 

a proposition ; and also towards the close of his 
student course he acted as determinato7^, the mean- 
ing of which term has been explained already. 
Those who had proved their competency in such 
a course, and had besides attended certain Lec- 
tures, and submitted to the questionings of the 
other Doctors in the faculty, were admitted Doctors 
or Masters In this faculty. These titles implied a 
right to teach ; it was in this that their essence lay. 
They were not meant for mere marks of having 
received a general liberal education, no one pro- 
bably sought for them who did not mean to teach. 
Indeed the graduate was generally bound by an 
oath to act as a Regent, for a certain period, at 
Cambridge, originally for one year, then for three, 
and under the Elizabethan Statutes for five years ; 
and a Regent in early days was a tutor, having 
youths perhaps living with him, but certainly under 
his teaching and authority, and receiving fees. 
Every teacher was a Regent, whatever his stand- 
ing, and the Regentes formed originally, at least 
in great measure, the governing body. In later 
days at Cambridge, Masters of Arts of less than 
five years standing, and Doctors of less than two 
were called Regentes, but only a few vestiges 
remained of the original meaning of the word. 
The Introduction of Degrees carrying titles 



Disputations. 97 



and authority to teach gave a new aspect to the 
Universities, it raised them frorii being mere 
societies for promoting education and learning 
into institutions, which formed an important part 
of the fabric of society, and which had a Hfe of 
their own. 

The profession of teaching became dignified 
by its connection with the Univeirsities. Doctors 
and Professors acquired much respect and an 
amount of emolument which, though probably 
moderate, was relative wealth when compared 
with the pittance of the schoolmaster. 

But these disputations and degrees had an 
attraction far beyond what could be accounted for 
by the profit or the dignity they conferred. They 
afforded to a young man of ability a means of 
bringing himself into notice ; they offered him a 
fair field where he could try his strength against 
others. They fulfilled in this respect the function 
which our University Honours do now, and, like 
them, afforded in their own age a powerful and 
on the whole a beneficial impetus to University 
life. 

There was one ladder open to the lowly born 

in those days, it was the Church. The young 

clerk might rise to be, not only a bishop, but 

a judge, an ambassador, or a high officer of state, 

L. 7 



98 Historical Notices. 

but if he were without interest he must find some 
means of singling himself out from his fellows. 
The public disputations in the schools of the 
Universities supplied what he wanted. Hitherto, 
the Universities had only offered learning, now 
they could offer fame. Moreover these exercises 
fell in with the strong combative spirit of the age^. 
They grew up in the days of the tournaments. 
They afforded an attraction to stirring and active 
spirits, who not only wanted the fruit of the 
struggle, but who enjoyed the struggle itself. 
These were men of different metal from the quiet 
students who only wished to learn and to teach in 
peace. 

Many a humble lad who looked on at the 
brilliant tournament and sighed to think that he 
could neither break lances nor win chaplets, bright- 
ened up at the thought that there was something 
yet open to men like him, a place where strong 
will and active brains would make their mark, — a 
tournament of wits — and he fancied himself going 
from University to University, just as the knight 
went from lists to lists, maintaining his thesis 
against all comers, pronouncing his "determina- 
tion" in masterly style, and winning, amid the 

•^ We find frequent complaints of the distraction caused to students at 
Cambridge from "jousts and tournaments" held in the neighbourhood. 



Disputations. 99 

ringing applause of the students, high encomiums 
from the most learned doctors of the day. 

The new institution took firm hold and grew 
rapidly. The scholars formed a fraternity, and a 
student life sprang up with marked features and 
usages of its own. People always feel a sort of 
tenderness for the generation which is to be, as 
a French writer says, " the world of to-morrow," 
and these gatherings of young men and their 
competitions in argument were soon regarded 
with interest by the public at large. 

The statutes, which required certain exercises 
for degrees, might require the sanction of the 
Pope or of some external authority, but practically 
they emanated from the academical body, and so 
they met wants as they arose, and expressed the 
wishes of the teachers. Moreover the University 
seems to have had the power of dispensing with 
certain of these requirements, and this appears 
to have been very liberally exercised. 

Thus "the ancient Universities developed their 
system for themselves, and arrived by degrees at a 
state of very complex organization. We can easily 
understand that the vitality of an institution 
following this natural law of development should 
be superior to that of a highly organized crea- 
tion which, though fashioned, like a Frankenstein, 



lOO Histo7'ical Notices. 

with great study, is made and set going all at 
once. 

The fact that before the Reformation only a 
small proportion of the students proceeded to de- 
grees helped to keep the disputation system in 
repute. Those only engaged in the disputations 
who were competent to acquit themselves with 
tredit, and these were thoroughly in earnest in 
their endeavours to maintain their point. In 
Germany, where the disputation system is still 
retained^ although supplemented by Examinations, 
these contests are only engaged in by the more 
distinguished young men. Not one-fifth of the 
students at a German University take a degree 
at all, the rest are content, as they used to be in 
the Scotch Universities, with obtaining a certificate 
of having attended Lectures, this certificate being 
sufficient to enable them to enter on their pro- 
fessional course. 

It may be as well here to give some few 
particulars as to the number of students, and of 
degrees at the University of Cambridge, in early 
times. 

Wonderful stories have been told of the num- 
ber of students at Oxford and Cambridp-e in the 
13th and 14th centuries. They rest mainly on the 
Statements of a monk in a controversial sermon, 



Disputations. to r 



.which were made with a particular object Recent 
historical research has shewn that these state- 
ments are unfounded. Probably there never were 
'nearly so many students proceeding to the English 
.Universities as there are now. In 1873 near 700 
.students were admitted at Cambridge and about 
as many at Oxford. M. Thurot, in his work, 
De V Organisation de V Enseignentent, quoted by 
Mr Mullinger, Hist, of the University of Cambridge^ 
p. 362, says that there never were 1500 students 
at Paris in the best of times, and Paris ivas more 
famous than the English Universities, in a. d. 
1312 there were at Cambridge 575 persons liable 
to tallage (householders) (see Cooper's Annals^ 
Vol. I.). In A. D. 1376 a poll-tax of 4^. upon 
every lay person, male or female, above the age 
of 14, was granted to the king, and the number of 
persons charged to this tax in the town was 
1722. The scholars and their servants were, 
possibly, exempted, but we cannot suppose that 
the scholars outnumbered the adult inhabitants of 
the town. 

It must be recollected that at this time the 
customary duration of residence was much longer 
than it now is. Students entered between the 
ages of 14 and 16, and remained six or seven 
years at college, instead of about half that time ; 



102 Historical Notices. 

thus the proportion of the whole body of students 
to the number annually arriving was twice what 
it is at present. 

If we suppose that the whole number of actual 
students at Cambridge in the 15th century was 
1500, which seems to me reasonable, judging from 
such notices as we have, and from the accommoda- 
tion which the town and colleges could supply, this, 
taking six years as the time of residence, would 
give 250 freshmen in a year. We.find from our 
records that, roughly speaking, about 50 in a year at 
that epoch proceeded to degrees, or one-fifth of 
the whole annual number of freshmen. At present 
one-half of the students at Cambridge take their 
degrees in Honours, so that the disputants would 
answer to the first two-fifths of those who obtain 
University distinctions. As long as the disputa- 
tions were confined to persons of this calibre, they 
continued to be realities. 

After the time of Elizabeth it grew to be the 
practice that every student should endeavour to 
take the B. A. degree; the mere attendance at Lec- 
tures conferred no professional advantage, and, 
although a University degree conferred but trifling 
privileges, yet it had a social value, and every 
student endeavoured to obtain it, while a certain 
discredit was attached to leaving the University 



Disputations. \o\ 



without a degree. The consequence was that these 
disputations were carried on by those who knew 
little Latin and less Logic ; they became a bur- 
den instead of being a coveted opportunity for 
display. Some students tried to do the least 
that was needed in order to escape the terrible 
"Descendas, Domine" of the presiding authority, 
which answered to the modern " plucking." The 
fact is that disputations were never meant for any 
but willing and bond fide students, and when 
others were forced to engage in them, they became 
a farce, and perished. That the candidates for 
degrees were not numerous is, indeed, implied in 
the whole of the proceedings formerly required 
for a degree, which were long and complex. 

But these Acts^and Opponencies had an indirect 
influence, which extended beyond those who en- 
gaged in them. The common subjects of debate, 
which would seem dry enough to us, were taken 
from what were in their own time the questions of 
the day, and the abstract character of the proceed- 
ing was relieved by personal interest in the dispu- 
tant, and the excitement of a genuine contest. 
Books were scarce in those days, and persons were 
accustomed to learn by their ears as we are by our 
eyes ; sermons and disputations stood them in the 

^ He who maintained a thesis was said "to keep an Act." 



704 Historical Notices. 

place of current literature, and the power of at- 
tending to what is delivered orally was much more' 
commonly possessed than it is now. This power has 
indeed almost disappeared in our time among the 
cultivated class, at least with the male sex. If 
you w^ant an audience for a formal lecture you 
must look to ladies or to working men. 

Whatever the causes, w^e have evidence that 
a crowd of students were ready to listen eagerly to 
debates in Latin on the points in dispute between 
Nominalists and Realists, and this shews that a 
considerable amount of intellectual activity had 
been called forth. Even in those outside the 
University an interest was awakened in philo- 
sophical discussion. It is surprising in those times 
to find how well, considering that there were no 
newspapers and no regular means of communica- 
tion, people were acquainted with what was going 
on elsewhere. University news spread by tra- 
vellers. Students and doctors went to and fro on 
their way, making short stages on horseback. The 
traveller found shelter in the Hall or in the 
Monastery, and his news was eagerly sought. The 
account of a great dispute between well-known 
doctors would have all the interest which an impor- 
tant trial would now attract, and thus some tincture 
of philosophy permeated the society of that day. 



'Disputations. ' 105 



The writers even of the hghter literature of 
the middle ages take it for granted that their 
readers are familiar with the technical terms of 
philosophy, and have an interest in the perplexing 
problems with which it dealt. To take one ready 
instance. None of Chaucer's tales was more 
likely to be widely read, than the Nonnes Prestes 
tale, the popular story of the Cock and the 
Fox. Yet there we meet with the following 
passage :— d 

Whether that Goddis worthy forwetyng 
Streigneth me needely for to do a thing, 
(Needely clepe I smiple necessitt?) ; 
Or elles if fre choys be graunted me 
To do that same thing, or to do it nought, 
Though God forwot it, er that it was wrought ; 
Or of his wityng streyneth never a deel, 
But by necessity condicionel. 

The system of scholastic disputations, then, 
was happily suited to the circumstances of its 
time, and its immediate effects were no doubt 
beneficial. We might say much the same of the 
system of University Examinations, Vv^hich suc- 
ceeded it, and which, though it grew up gradually, 
came first to be well known and understood by 
the public early in the present century. The more 
remote effects of both systems are of a mixed 
nature, and require careful tracing. 

The effective point of both these systems, aS 



io6 Historical Notices. 

regards their action in stimulating study, is the 
same. 

In each case a mart was opened, at which 
certain kinds of learning could obtain immediate 
consideration. The harvest of knowledge is long 
to wait for, and much may befall the crop before 
it is reaped and winnowed, and stored in the gran- 
ary : only the patient and trustful will sow for it ; 
but when a factor comes and offers to buy the 
crop as it stands, green and in blossom, then the 
case changes its aspect : at once a great breadth 
of land is sown, and care and capital are bestowed 
on the husbandry ; only there is this to be ob- 
served — the grower's interest is thereby turned 
to having a fine plant at blossoming time, it is no 
lonofer his business to trouble himself about the 
hardening of the grain. 

At the end of the last chapter I have alluded to 
one of the indirect actions of this system, an action 
which worked unseen, but which powerfully affected 
the turn which the intellects of that age took. I 
mean that it cast all learning into a dialectic form. 

We have seen that, as far as logic and rhetoric 
went, this system fulfilled one of the requisites for 
a sound Examination — It measured them by their 
own natural fruits. A student applied himself to 
one of these branches in order to learn to argue 



DispJttaiions. \of 



and to put his points forcibly, and this form of 
Examination called on him to put these accom- 
plishments in practice ; but when we consider the 
subject-matter of the disputation, which might be 
theology or philosophy or jurisprudence, the case 
was different. Whether a man was a theologian, 
or philosopher, or jurist, no one could positively 
say, but he was pronounced so in the schools be- 
cause he could m^gue about theology or philosophy 
or jurisprudence. This we see would concentrate 
attention on one aspect of each of these subjects, 
and that would not be the side on which new truth 
was likely to be found. Attention would be turned 
to those points which offered grounds for contro- 
versy, and a field for the display of subtilty In 
framing artificial distinctions, and of dexterity In 
syllogistic fencing. 

The schoolmen took up some of the intermin- 
able problems which beset human existence, and 
though they might not even pretend to have 
solved them, yet one would Insist on a particular 
way of viewing a question, and another would just 
as plausibly insist on another. Here was room for 
endless discussion, and men were led to expatiate 
in this unproductive region, because it afforded an 
exercise ground which just suited their weapons 
and their evolutions. 



io8 Historical Notices. 



No doubt there were great men in the middle 
ages, hke Anselm and others, whose genius proved 
superior to all adverse influences. The great men 
who have grown up under a system are often cited 
as proofs of its value ; but great men, of all others, 
are those who are least affected by any system. 
Their native vis^our overcomes the streno^th of 
systems, and asserts its own law of growth, A 
system must be tested by its effect on the many — 
on those whose innate force is but moderate as 
compared with the external pressure — and, apply- 
ing this to the case before us, we find that the 
shape which thought and learning were made to 
take under the influence of scholastic disputations, 
was such as to check free expansion and variety of 
individual growth. If a great man met with a 
philosophical theorem he would not be easy till he 
had sifted out the truth of the matter ; but when a 
thesis came in the way of an ordinary man, the 
point with him would be, not " Is this true ?" but, 
*' How is this to be maintained or impugned?" He 
would frame his arguments with ncgo coiisequentiain 
always sounding in his ears, and he would espe- 
cially look to see how in the last resort his position 
could be reduced to statements which were sup- 
ported by some received authority, A proposition 
which could not be made to rest ultimately on 



Disputations. io^ 

such support would not be suited for the display 
of his skill. This consideration narrowed his in- 
terest in intellectual questions. 

A disputant, too, could never afford to ac- 
knowledge his own ignorance in the face of an 
adversary, and so he got out of the habit of 
allowing it to himself Now, until a man owns 
his ignorance, the way is not cleared for any ad- 
vance to knowledge, and the man is not in the 
right temper to set out in quest of it. The learned 
in the middle ages were in this condition: they 
had framed theories — flimsy structures, spun out 
of their own heads, with the smallest possible 
quantity of anything material to rest upon, — in 
order to fill up the gaps in their knowledge ; and 
this they did because in a disputation • they were 
obliged to maintain that what they held was part 
of a complete system. If there was any point of 
their line undefended, the position was untenable. 
From this necessity of pretending to know every- 
thing, they were driven to construct hypotheses 
resting on a priori ^xomiA?, : a mode of proceeding 
which prevented their learning anything rightly, 
and, what most of all disqualified them for advance 
in true science, they lost the feeling of the sacred- 
ness of truth ; they studied not in order to con- 
vince themselves, but to silence an opponent, 



1 lo Historical Notices, 

People in those times did not understand such 
a phrase as "an open question." When they came 
to hear a debate, they expected the point at issue 
to be cleared up by the " determinator " — at any 
rate they wanted one side or the other to win in 
the dispute — and they did not need to go to the 
bottom of every question, for before going very 
far they were met by some authority by whose 
verdict they were content to abide. 

The disputant brought with him into the schools 
his Bible, his Decretals, or other ecclesiastical 
authorities bearing on his point, or else his Aris- 
totle, or his Corpus Juris, according to his subject. 
Besides this he had a little store of dicta of the 
schoolmen which were held absolute on points of 
logic ; and when he had brought any position 
under a head on which his authority spoke clearly, 
then it was valet qucBstio or cadit qiLcestio et argiL- 
mentum, as the case might be. 

Hence the practice of disputations kept aiL- 
thority before men's minds as being — not perhaps 
the basis of all truth — but as being the firmest 
ground that they, practically, could reach : and 
thereby it encouraged a proneness of that age 
which was already too strong. 

This tendency to cling to authority is one of 
the characteristics of infancy, and the intellect of 



Disputations. 1 1 1 

Europe was in its boyhood at the time I speak of. 
Now a boy will have a right and a wrong on 
every point. If you tell him that a passage may 
be taken, either this way or the other way — he 
says " Yes, but which is the right way ?" and is 
ready to take your answer as decisive. Such 
trust indeed is necessary for a child up to a 
certain point, but he should be weaned from it in 
due time. The men of the middle ages remained 
too long in this state of pupillage, they had suc- 
ceeded to certain fragments of a great inherit- 
ance, which, as they believed, embraced all human 
wisdom and knowledge, and they confined them- 
selves to treasuring up what they could find of 
this ; they never dreamed, with one or two excep- 
tions, of looking for new sources of truth. In 
Chaucer's time people were beginning to be 
inclined to break loose a little, and yet he never 
ventures to lay down a moral precept or a ge- 
neral maxim without sheltering himself under 
the authority of Cicero or " Boece," or '' Daun 
Caton." Hence the system of scholastic disputa- 
tions cramped men's minds by forcing them to 
cast all their knowledge into a particular shape, — 
to prepare it, as it were, for a particular market — 
and it kept them too long in leading-strings, 
accepting the dictates of authority and disparaging 



'112 Historical Notices. 

the exercise of their own reason. We may take 
a lesson from this when we come to consider 
Examinations. There is further this point to be 
LHoted. The evil would have been much less if 
these disputations had been confined to youths 
and viewed solely as means of education. Young 
people must up to a certain time be drilled me- 
thodically and must accept something on trust. 
But these disputations were not confined to 
youths ; learned doctors carried them on all through 
their career, they formed their business and their 
glory. 

Now this is just as if our great scholars or men 
of science were to make it the occupation of their 
lives to go about from university to university and 
compete with one another in Examinations. Not 
only would these men be lost to literature and 
true science, but they would help to create an 
artificial science, and to inaugurate a deplorable 
worship of puzzles and of toiLrs de force. From 
the time when a complete system of scholastic 
exercises was established throughout the Univer- 
sities of Christendom down to the time when Ex- 
aminations began to supersede them, there was 
little change in the form in which acquirements 
had to be presented in order to reap their reward. 
The subjects taught varied indeed considerably, 



Disputations. " 113 



and the soirit of the teachino- much more as time 
rolled on; but as these changes did not, unless 
very remotely, arise from the form of the process 
by which learning and ability were exhibited, 
they only come into consideration here, so far 
as regards certain tendencies which helped to 
bring about the change from disputations to 
Examinations. 

The system of Scholastic disputations may be 
looked on as a vase which had been fashioned 
to hold and to display human knowledge in the 
1 2th and 13th centuries; the flowers of learn- 
ing, so to say, were for a long time grown and 
trimmed with a view to how they would fit the 
vase and how they would look in it. But in 
time there came new methods of cultivation and a 
new spirit in the cultivators ; printing was . dis- 
covered, and the great intellectual movement of the 
Reformation came. Experiments were introduced 
on the basis of science, a new kind of produce 
arose, of luxuriant growth and divers forms, and the 
old vase answered its purpose no more. Its dimen- 
sions were confined to certain limits, and its shape 
was thought to be so much of the essence of the 
thing, that no one tried to fit it to altered cir-- 
cumstances. No new kind of disputation was 
introduced ; the exercises established by the 
L. 8 



114 Historical Notices. 

Statutes of Elizabeth were of the same kind as 
those that had been in use before. The system 
was never patched, but in England it wore out, 
while in Germany disputations were till lately held 
in the old form. We see here, as we may a hundred 
times every day, what permanency there is in 
external forms, how they lay hold of men, and 
may survive their use and meaning. 

But besides the general effect which any in- 
tellectual movement must have in causing human 
knowledge to outgrow a receptacle of fixed dimen- 
sions, there are one or two kinds of action peculiar 
to this case which it will be worth while to trace. 

I have remarked how in the days when the 
system of disputations grew up, all knowledge was 
regarded as resting on authority, and how this 
view was embodied in the rules of practice accord- 
ing to which these contests were carried on. Now 
the very essence of the spirit of the Reformation 
was one of revolt against accepted authorities, 
and hence disputations ceased to be in complete 
accord with the spirit of the age. But this in- 
compatibility was not found out all at once. 
People broke, indeed, with Duns Scotus and 
scholastic philosophy, but Aristotle was held in 
as much veneration as ever, and no one dreamt cf 
giving up the syllogistic form of argument. 



DisptUations. 115 



The spirit of the Reformation, no doubt, was 
one of intellectual freedom; people had come to 
the conclusion that they ought to think and act 
for themselves; but they did not, with the excep- 
tion of a few fanatics, revolt against authority as 
authority, they asserted their liberty by choosing 
the authorities they would adopt ; they put the 
Bible in place of the Church, and Aristotle in 
place of the schoolmen, and thus the disputations 
went on the same in point of form as ever. But 
this could only be for a while; the spirit that had 
been awakened was sure to question eventually the 
credentials of the authorities that were for the time 
accepted, and a form of discussion which necessi- 
tated a constant appeal to authority was not fitted 
for the investigation of the questions which were 
besfinninof to stir mankind. 

The printing press came more and more to take 
the place of public lectures and discussions, as a 
vehicle for spreading opinion. The questions at 
issue were no longer such as only interested 
scholars, as the disputes of the Nominalists and 
Realists had been, they came home to every man, 
and they were discussed by a wider public. The 
Universities ceased to be the sole foci of intel- 
lectual action; in England indeed they were for a 
time almost deserted — the bulk of the students 

8—2 



1 1 6 Historical Notices. 

had looked to the Church for their prospects, and 
the path of clerical advancement was much nar- 
rowed ; moreover, the courtiers having swallowed 
the lands of the monasteries had turned their eyes 
on those of the Colleges ; these were however 
saved, partly by the intercession of Catherine 
Parr, but a feeling of insecurity remained. Many 
of the teachers left, and parents hesitated to send 
their sons, to enter on a career, of which the 
rewards were so precarious. 

The Universities revived in the time of Eliza- 
beth, but as we shall see they performed a dif- 
ferent function in the national life. Academical 
exercises now became an ancient institution, 
retained by statutable provision, instead of being 
the natural outo^rowth of academical needs. In 
spite of all the strict Injunctions about dispu- 
tations in the Elizabethan Statutes, the impossi- 
bility of dispensing with them and the preposter- 
ous tlme^ bestowed upon them, they never, after 
the Reformation, were what they had been in the 
ages in which they sprang up — -they belonged 
henceforth to the category of University ceremo- 
nies and traditions. 

There were two causes which very palpably 
brought about the discredit of Disputations in later 

^ An Act was to go on "/t'r triurn horai-um sj>atuim." 



Dispittations. 1 1 7 



times; one was that already mentioned, namely 
that they were engaged m by incompetent persons, 
and the other was that the Reformation did away 
with the general familiarity with Latin. Before this 
period every educated man knew something of the 
language in which he said his prayers. Moreover 
before the Reformation Latin was to some deg^ree 
a living language. Barbarous words were used it 
is true and Roger Bacon says, that " ego currit" was 
let pass for grammar: still youths seem to have 
picked up more Latin than they do now, for when 
they came to the University they were capable of 
reading, writing and speaking that language, if 
not with correctness yet with tolerable ease, — 
so much so that m the Statutes of Trinity Col- 
lege it was directed that the Latin Grammar 
should not be taught except to the choristers : 
the College was not to do the work of a Grammar 
School. At the present time a youth from, the fifth 
form of a school even of the best repute might be 
much puzzled by a plain bit of Latin if he had 
not previously got it up with a ''crib." 

Something of this difference may be attributed 
to the greater strictness of ancient education : but 
much must be set down to the fact that Latin was 
in great part taught orally. Boys heard it spoken 
at church and in school,^ and on certain occasions 



li8 Historical Notices. 

they were not let to talk anything else; besides, 
Latin was not in those times one of the things which 
a boy would think useless; there were then many 
foreigners in England, ecclesiastics especially, and 
Latin was the means of communicating with them. 
Latin phrases and Latin proverbs were frequent 
in ordinary conversation — witness the Canterbury 
Tales — ^and the lad would know that he could do 
nothing without Latin at the University. 

Now the Reformation destroyed the oral teach- 
ing of Latin; it made it a dead language instead of 
a living one, and in England it destroyed its use 
as a universal language of the educated world by 
introducing a barbarous pronunciation, which we 
are only just beginning to throw aside. The 
general familiarity with Latin appears to have 
declined rather rapidly after the Restoration, 
French took its place as the language of the 
*' polite world," and it was in the general laxity of 
that period that University discipline, and with it 
the reality of the Academical exercises, began to 
fall off. As soon as the Acts and Opponencies 
came to be kept by youths who were alike igno- 
rant of the subject on which they were talking and 
of the language in which the discussion was carried 
on, the display became so discreditable that the 
authorities were glad to convert the proceedings, 



Disputations. 119 

as far as the pass-men were concerned, into a 
mere form. 

Another point calls for notice. In the 17th 
century physical science began to attract attention. 
During the whole of the 17th century physical 
conceptions were working themselves clear. Phy- 
sical Philosophy was passing through the contro- 
versial stage ; it was mixed up to a certain extent 
with theological notions ; the propounders of new 
views came every now and then to some great 
difficulty, and fell back on theological considera- 
tions. A science in this state of transition afforded 
admirable scope for disputations, and it took the 
place of the Scholastic Philosophy to a very great 
degree at Cambridge. From the renown of New- 
ton and some of his contemporaries and successors, 
Natural Philosophy established itself there as the 
dominant study of the place; and we find in the 
1 8th century, that two of the three questions which 
a candidate for Honours had to maintain would 
usually be taken from the works of Newton. 

As long as the Newtonian Philosophy was 
struggling with the older systems, there would 
be life and reality in these contests, but when 
it had finally triumphed, astronomy and mechanics 
ceased to furnish open questions for discussion; 
there was a certainty on one side or the other, and 



120 Historical Notices. 

a disputation on such subjects became only a sham 
fight — it might be made a held for shewing 
ingenuity or mathematical knowledge, but there 
could be little spirit in a contest when men 
were disputing about a matter which both knew 
to have been lono- settled. We shall see further 
on that as mathematical science became more 
fixed it proved less fit to be employed as the 
sole instrument of education : we want to call 
on young men to judge of probabilities as well as 
to understand what is proved. 

Eventually, then, even among the candidates 
for Honours, these contests ceased to be real ; 
the point in dispute had a foregone conclusion, 
and soon all interest in the matter died out ; few ^ 
cared to go and listen to the Latin discussion, and 
the students no longer contended for victor)^ The 
opponents met overnight and arranged the course'! 
of argument, and the authoritities feeling that the 
process was a mere monument of the past, w^ere 
unwilling, and wisely so, to give it an artificial 
value by making it of importance in the obtaining 
a degree. 

In the next chapter we shall see how the 
Mathematical Tripos grew out of the exercises 
required for the B.A. degree. These Acts and 
Opponencies, as I have already said, became a 



Disputations. 121 

mere form with regard to the ordinary degrees, and 
finally they lost their importance in the case of 
degrees in Honours, so that in 1837 the Univer- 
sity, by a stretch of its powers, wisely abolished 
them altogether in the Faculty of Arts. 

They continued^ however, to be carried on in 
the Faculties of Divinity, Law, and Physic, until 
they were legally abolished by the statutes of 1858; 
and a vestige of them is still retained in an essay 
which candidates for the Doctorate deliver to the 
Professor, and which is made the basis of a viv:t' 
voce Examination. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HISTORICAL NOTICES. THE MATHEMATICAL TRIPOS. 

In treating of the growth and dedine of the 
system of scholastic disputations, I have confined 
myself mainly to its general effects, purposely 
avoiding historical detail. It is not my purpose 
to write a history of learning or of university 
education, but simply to trace out the influences of 
the different modes of providing an immediate 
acknowledgment for the results of instruction; 
neither do I intend to give a descriptive catalogue 
of the various sorts of examinations that have been 
employed at different times and places. Unless 
a process of examination have some specific opera- 
tion I am not particularly concerned with it. It 
will however be serviceable to take one existing 
system of examination for close consideration, to 
observe how it grew up, what those who framed 
it wanted to do by it, what were its immediate 
and what its remote consequences, what difficul- 



The Mathematical Tripos. 123 

ties arose and what mischiefs threatened, what 
warnings were uttered and what remedies applied. 
I propose to take the Mathematical Tripos at 
Cambridge as my typical specimen; I do this, 
partly because I am familiar with its working, but 
also from one or two peculiarities which render 
it suitable for dissection and study. 

In the first place it has a history; it has been 
long enough in existence for its remote and indi- 
rect effects to have become apparent, and for the 
action of the remedies which were applied to be 
observed. It has grown up much as an organism 
may be supposed to be developed in the course of 
ages ; we shall find that one member dropped off 
when it ceased to be wanted, and that another 
was thrown out when occasion required. These 
changes were in part due to the changes in the 
external conditions which had to be fulfilled ; but 
besides this they were in part due to the effects of 
the public opinion of a highly educated body of 
teachers, who were quick to mark unhealthy ten- 
dencies. If the scheme of the Mathematical Tri- 
pos had been laid down once for all on paper 
like that of the Examination for the Indian Civil 
Service, it would have been less suitable for my 
purpose; it would then have been not a growth 
but a construction, and we could have learnt 



l24 Historical Notices. 

nothing as to any laws of development it might 
obey. 

Moreover this Examination acquired quite 
early in the present century a high reputation for 
the integrity and ability with which it was con- 
ducted. Lord Macaulay repeatedly pointed out 
the correspondence of its verdicts with successes 
subsequently gained in life, and his remarks have 
attracted much attention. In awarding Fellowships 
the result of the Mathematical Tripos has been 
allowed great weight, and no complaints have 
been heard as to the fairness of the selection. 

In consequence, when a difficulty arose about 
the bestowal of Government patronage, the public 
caught from the Mathematical Tripos the idea of 
introducing competitive Examinations, The word 
"competitive" has become a technical term, and 
must be rigorously defined, I would say that an 
Examination is strictly competitive when one can- 
didate is depressed or excluded by the superiority 
of another. The Mathematical Tripos is competi- 
tive in point of depressing, not of excluding. The 
place of a candidate in a class is affected by the 
number of those who do better, but his class is 
not affected by the number of competitors ; there 
may be any number of Wranglers, Senior Optimes, 
and Junior Optimes, provided sufficient candidates 



The Mathematical Tripos, 125 

reach the respective standards, which are approxi- 
mately fixed by tradition. The Examination for the 
Indian Civil Service is competitive in both ways. 
The names are placed in order of merit, certain 
advantages arise from position, and a candidate 
however well qualified absolutely, is unsuccessful 
if fifty candidates obtain a greater total of 
marks. The Oxford Examinations are not com- 
petitive in the limited sense in which I mean to 
employ the term. The names in each class are 
placed in alphabetical order. We hear, indeed, 
now and then that a person is the "best first- 
class of his year," but this rests only on rumour. 
As, however, a closer discrimination is required in 
order to award Fellowships, the public Examina- 
tions at Oxford have to be supplemented by 
subsequent College Examinations, which are in 
the strictest sense competitive. 

It was owing to its historical origin that the 
names in the Tvlathematical Tripos came to be 
arranged in order of merit, for the " Tripos," as we 
shall see, arose out of an order of seniority which 
had to be established among the Bachelors of a 
year in order to determine precedency and priority 
of claim to certain University offices. We shall 
find that the order of seniority came more and 
more to depend on merit, and thereby greater 



126 Historical Notices. ' 

credit was • attached to a position. Such a Hst 
was found of service in estimating the merits of 
candidates for Fellowships. There were times in 
which the elections to college emoluments were 
not only affected by crown influence but were 
as much exposed to the action of jobbery and 
party spirit as government or local^ patronage has 
been since. Those who had it at heart to raise 
the moral tone of the University in this respect 
pointed to the " Tripos list," as it was called, as 
furnishinp- a criterion of relative merit unaffected 
by personal predilections, and exposed to the 
healthy influence of publicity. The more the 
" Tripos list" came to be used for this purpose, 
the more carefully it was framed and the more it 
was freed from a certain element of. favour which 
it had contained. Thus the growing interest in 
the Tripos betokens a certain honesty of purpose 
existing in Cambridge amid the general laxity of 
principle of the first half of the eighteenth century, 
and, again, the habit of respecting the Tripos 
fostered this love of fairness and right. 

The drawing up of a satisfactory list in order 
of merit was much facilitated by two circumstances 
which did not exist at Oxford. 

Firstly, the subjects of Examination were all 
of one kind ; for though moral and mental philoso^ 



The Mathematical Tripos. 127 

phy entered into the course of education, they 
were overpowered in the Examination by the 
weight attached to Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy. 

Secondly, these are subjects which admit of 
very definite answers to questions ; not only must 
a solution be either right or wrong, but it is easy 
to see up to what point the mode of proceeding 
is correct, and thus the comparative merits of 
the answers can be estimated : the more settled 
and scientific Natural Philosophy becomes, the 
more this is the case. In the moral sciences 
it is otherwise, a question may be answered 
in ways altogether different, and every answer 
may have its merits; candidates also will differ as 
to how ftdly they suppose the Examiner wants 
them to answer his questions. This can hardly 
happen in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy : 
neither do they afford much room for variety of 
taste. Examiners may differ a little in opinion 
as to the style of the solution of a problem, but not 
nearly so much as they often do in regard to the 
merits of a copy of Latin verse. Again, it was 
due to the two circumstances above stated that the 
system of ''marks" became applicable. This is an 
important point, because it was to the definite- 
ness of result which the ''mark" system affords. 



■T2 8 Historical Notices. 

and to the attractiveness of the discovery that 
selection could be reduced to arithmetic and all 
the responsibility of choice put off upon a relent- 
less addition of figures, that the Examinations owe 
a great part of their popularity. 

If the Examinations had embraced widely dif- 
ferent subjects it would soon have been found that 
the taking of "totals" gave wrong results, and if 
the subjects had been classics or philosophy, the 
difficulty of assigning proper values to the answers 
— though not insurmountable if approximate results 
only be required, — would have been such as to 
prevent the originatio7i of such a system, though it 
may not be such as to hinder the partial adoption 
of it, when it has once been originated. 

I will begin my account of the Mathematical 
Tripos by relating the circumstances from which 
it takes its name. I should hardly have done so 
had I not found it stated^ that the name is taken 
from the three classes into which the Honour Lists 
at Cambridge are usually divided. It is really 
derived from the tripos or stool on which stood 
the " Bachelor of the Stool" on two occasions 
when the names of the new bachelors were ar- 
ranged in order of seniority. The days on which 
this took place were called Tripos days, because 

1 Report of the French Commissioners, 1870. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 129 

this Bachelor, who held a kind of mock disputation 
and made the fun of the proceeding, was the 
Important character of the day. The Bachelor 
was himself called " Tripos " from occupying the 
stool. Ash- Wednesday and the Thursday before 
Mid-Lent Sunday were respectively called the 
first and second " Tripos days." 

The following Is taken from Dr Peacock's* 
work on the Statutes of the University (Ap- 
pendix A, p. ix,). It Is an extract from an account 
of the ceremonies on Ash-Wednesday, given by 
Matthew Stokys, who was Esquire Bedell In 
1557- "Then shall the Proctours apoynt them 
(the new Bachelors) their Seniorities ;" which 
done, they proceed ''so orderlye unto the Phl- 
losophie Schole" (the Arts' Schools) " and when 
every man is placed, the Senior Proctour shall 
with some oration shortly move the Father to 
begyn, who after his exkortation unto his children 
shall call fourthe his eldest sone" (his seniority 
having just been determined, so that he answered 
to our senior wrangler) "and animate hym to 
dispute with an old Bachilour^, which shall sit 
upon a stoole before Mr Proctours, unto whome 
the sone shall propounde two Questions." 

* Dr Peacock, tutor of Trinity College, was made Dean of Ely in 18^9. 
L. 9 



T^O 



Historical Notices. 



Dr Peacock's notes are as follows : 
(i) "This seniority of the commencing ba^ 
chelors or determiners, which was formerly made 
at the pleasure of the proctors on Ash-Wednes- 
day, constituted the first Tripos List, which has 
since become so celebrated : it is probable that the 
list formed by the posers or examiners, which was 
headed by the most distinguished of the question- 
ists, generally guided the proctors in their selec- 
tion, though they frequently placed at the head of 
it some one or more of their personal friends or 
favourites." 

(2) ^' He was called the bachelor of the stool, 
or tripos, which gave the name to the day : he 
was generally selected for his skill and readiness 
in disputation, and was allowed, like the prcevari- 
cator at the majora comitia, and the terrce filius^ 

^ " Terrae filiiis." This was a title which invested the speaker with a 
sort of impersonality. I think that this name had in the days of Elizabeth 
and James got into current use among young men as a slang term emanat- 
ing from tlie Universities ; it expressed the independence and camaraderie 
of student life, and possibly it conveyed the idea of a certain tinge of 
the " Bohemian" character which was then rather the mode. In Ben 
Jonson {Alchemist, Act IV. »Sc. 2) we find a play on this expression. 
Subtle addresses Kastril, the young squire, as follows : 
" Come near, my worshipful boy, my ierraefili. 
That is my lad of land ; make thy approaches." 
Compare also Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2, line 221 : 

"Ham. My excellent good friends ! How dost thou, Guildenstem? 
Ah, Rosencrantz ! Good lads, how do you both ? 
Ros. As the indifferent children of the earth." 



The Mathematical Tripos, 131 

a^ Oxford, considerable license of language, a pri- 
vilege which was not unfrequently abused." 

In another account of similar proceedings in 
1665, bythe Esquire Bedell of that day, John Buck,^ 
we find "the Sen"". Proctor calleth up the Tri- 
pos and exhorteth him to be witty but modest 
withall." 

It was not till the second Tripos-day that the 
Proctor declared all those whose seniority had 
been reserved, either on the first or second Tripos- 
days, to have finally performed their determina- 
tion, and to be actually " Bachelors in Arts." 

Although no change was formally sanctioned 
by the University, the mode of proceeding gra- 
dually became shortened, and the disputations 
were carried on with less spirit. We have pretty 
full accounts of the state of things at the Univer- 
sity early in the 1 8th century, owing to the disputes 
relative to the proceedings of the celebrated Dr 
Bentley, who was master of Trinity College. The 
aspect of affairs at that time was dreary enough. 

There was however one redeeming influence, 
one spark of vitality kept alive in Cambridge ; this 
was the pursuit of Physical Science. " The pro- 
blems of Aristotle," says Professor Peacock, "were 
replaced in the schools by questions on moral and 
natural philosophy, and the system of the University 

9—2 



132 Historical Notices. 

continued to verge more and more to the nearly 
exclusive pursuit of mathematics and natural philo- 
sophy. But the course of study which thus sprang, 
up as it were spontaneously was sanctioned by no 
academical legislation; and during the first seventy 
years of the eighteenth century we cannot disco- 
ver a single bye- law or grace in the statute-book 
which either regulates or authorizes the new sys- 
tem which had thus arisen. The examinations of 
the questionists, which in ancient times had been 
considered as subordinate in importance to the 
series of scholastic exercises which were required 
for the complete degree of bachelor of arts, ap- 
peared gradually to have acquired a well-organized 
form, though still disturbed by the somewhat 
irregular though statutable intrusion of regent 
masters of arts." The regent masters had a right 
to question any one who was admitted of their 
faculty. This right they exercised freely, some in 
the character of ''Fathers of Colleges," and some 
merely for their own satisfaction. This inter- 
ference continued till near 1790, after which the 
conducting of the Examination was left to the 
Moderators. 

" Towards the middle of the century," conti- 
nues Dr Peacock, "the Tripos lists, which had 
formerly attracted no great degree of attention, as 



The Mathematical Tripos. 133 

not being unequivocal testimonies of proficiency" 
(for seniority was in some cases granted by the 
Proctors as a piece of patronage), '^began to assume 
a prominent character in consequence of the total 
abandonment of the quadragesimal^ and other sta- 
tutable exercises, and the consequent expediency 
of making the selections from those candidates 
who had most distinguished themselves in the 
only regular and systematic trial to which the 
questionists were subjected, and the public atten- 
tion which was thus attracted to those authorized 
certificates of honour, and the spirit of emulation 
which they began to excite amongst the whole 
body of the students, determined the character of 
the studies of the University." 

The earliest Tripos list which appears in the 
Cambridge Calendar is that of 1 748 ; no distinction 
is made between the Wranglers and Senior Op- 
times. They are included under the head of 
*' Baccalaurei quibus sua reservatur senioritas co- 
mitiis prioribus" (i. e. the first Tripos day). 24 
names are given in 1748, and there are 15 Junior 
Optimes "quibus sua reservatur senioritas comi- 
tiis posterioribus" (i. e. the second Tripos day). In 
1753 and subsequent years the Senior Optimes 
were divided from the Wranglers. 

^ These were disputations during Lent. 



134 - Historical Notices. 

Cambridge shews a few respectable names 
during this period, but the number of students 
seems to have fallen very low. We find a writer 
speaking of the University who talks of "400 
young men living together," and from the number 
of matriculations in the Registrary's books it 
would appear that the number of undergraduates 
was not more than four or five hundred, or about 
one-fifth of what it is now. 

We pass on to the year 1774, when we get 
a full account of the proceedings for degrees 
given us by Dr J ebb. Fellow and Tutor of St 
Peter's College, who was the first person who 
stirred up the University to take steps for re- 
pressing the idleness that prevailed. He and 
those who acted with him never doubted but that 
by means of Examinations they might effect the 
-improvement they had at heart, and a great ba- 
lance of good I believe was effected by the mea- 
sures which, though his proposals were rejected, 
resulted from his agitation. His schemes how- 
ever principally affected College Examinations 
and those for the Ordinary Degree, and I am now 
only concerned with his narrative of the course 
of proceeding for the Mathematical Tripos. 

Of this I shall here give an abridgment. 
The candidates for the B. A. des^ree send in their 

o 



The- MathemahcaL Tripos. 135 

names to the two "moderators"; these are two 
functionaries who preside at the disputations. 
Each candidate appears on the appointed day, in 
order to '^keep his act." He brings three pro- 
positions, which he is to maintain against three 
students of his own standing. These are his 
''opponents." The following is a specimen of the 
Question Paper : — 

Q. S. (Qusestiones Sunt). 
Planetas primarii retinentur in orbitis suis,vi gravitatis et motu projectill. 
Iridis primariffi et secundarise phsenomena solvi possunt ex principiis opticis. 
Non licet magistratui civem morti tradere nisi ob crimen homicidii. 

Resp. Jan. lotli. 

These questions are approved by the modera- 
tor a fortnight before the day of the act. 

The candidate appears before the moderator, 
and reads from a rostrum a Latin thesis on one 
question. The first opponent is then called by the 
moderator. He mounts a rostrum opposite the 
candidate, and brings eight arguments against his 
position ; each argument is supported by three or 
four syllogisms. The other opponents follow in turn. 

*' The exercise," says Dr Jebb, "after being 
carried on some time according to the strict rules, 
insensibly slides into free debate ; the moderator 
restraining the parties from wandering from the 
subject, and frequently giving his own determi- 
nation." 



136 Historical Notices. 

" These exercises," he adds, " are improving, 
are generally well attended, and consequently are 
often performed with great spirit." It appears 
-that some of the authorities were even then 
offended at the badness of the Latin, and ad- 
vised that the exercises should be held in Ene- 
lish. No such change was, however, made. To 
resume the narrative : 

" The moderator dismisses the disputants with 
a compliment, and sets marks to their names, indi- 
catinof their relative mierits. When all the candi- 
dates have kept their acts, the moderators form 
the students into divisions of six, eight, or ten, 
according to their marks above-mentioned. Each 
of these sets is examined separately, for an hour or 
an hour and a half at a time, and the examination 
extends over three days." 

" The students sat round a table, with pens, ink, 
and paper, and the moderator gave out questions, 
beginning with Euclid, trigonometry, and algebra, 
and going on to the '' four branches of philosophy, 
viz. mechanics, hydrostatics, apparent astronomy, 
and optics, as explained in the works of Maclaurin, 
Cotes, Helsham, Hamilton, Rutherforth, Kelll, 
Long, Ferguson, and Smith." 

Some " proceed to the higher parts of natural 
philosophy, viz. the theory of pulses propagated 



The Mathematical Tripos. 137 

through elastic media; and the stupendous fabric 
of the world." 

'^ The moderator," we read, ^' sometimes asks 
a few questions on ' Locke's Essay on the Human 
Understanding/ ^ Butler's Analogy/ or * Clarke's 
Attributes.' But as the highest academical dis- 
tinctions are invariably given to the best profi- 
cients in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, a 
very superficial knowledge in Morality and Meta- 
physics will suffice." 

'' Problems are proposed to the higher divi- 
sions, with which the student retires to a distant 
part of the Senate House, and returns with his 
solutions on paper to the moderator, who com- 
pares it with the solutions of other students." 

While the moderator was occupied in exa- 
mining one division, the ^' Fathers of Colleges," 
that is to say, the college officers who had 
charge of the candidates in the respective col- 
leges, "zealous/' we are told, "for the credit of 
their societies," were busy with the rest; each 
Father examining, sometimes for an hour and a 
half at a time, those candidates from other col- 
leges, '' who were most likely to contest the palm 
of glory with their sons." All the members of 
the Faculty of Arts were considered to be inter- 
ested in ascertaining the qualifications of those 



138 Historical Notices. 

who were admitted Into it, and if the moderators 
wished for the assistance of any well-known ma- 
thematician, he would feel it his duty to render his 
services. The smallness of the remuneration ori- 
ginally given to Examiners at Cambridge, is per- 
haps in part to be attributed to the idea, that 
every Master of Arts had a duty to his Faculty. 

To proceed with Dr Jebb's account: The Fa- 
ther of one college would take aside a student from 
another college, and examine him, viva voce, in 
all that he professed to have read. He reported 
his Impression to the moderators, to all the other 
Fathers, and to any other M.A. who might have 
examined. The moderators and others then met, 
discussed the comparative merits of the candi- 
dates, and eventually picked out the four and 
twenty who seemed most deserving. The names 
of these were printed In two divisions : the first 
called " Wranglers," or disputants, par excellence; 
the second, "Senior Optimes," probably from the 
form of the Moderator's compliment, — " Optime 
quidem disputasti, Domine." 

On the day after Ash- Wednesday (the first 
Tripos day), at a Congregation of the University, 
these names were read over publicly in order. 
When the name of the Senior Wrangler was pro- 
nounced, the Proctor said, " Nos reservamus ei 



Th0 Mathematical Tripos. 139 

Semoritatem suam"; and he went on saying, "et 
ei," "et ei," after each name as it was read by 
the Bedell. 

On the second Tripos day the same process was 
gone through with twelve more names. These were 
the Junior Optimes. The Wranglers and Senior 
Optimes were said to be " in the first Tripos," 

These lists were printed on the back of papers 
containing copies of Latin verses, in part satirical 
or facetious, written by a student appointed by the 
Proctor. These papers were called Tripos papers, 
and were distributed among those who were pre- 
sent. This custom is still continued, and is the 
only remaining vestige of the old institution of the 
" Bachelor of the Stool." 

Of all this course of proceeding the disputa- 
tions alone were required by statute. There were 
no University regulations as to the mode of ex- 
amining, or as to the degree of importance to 
be attached to each of the very incongruous sorts 
of data from which the moderators framed their 
list of Seniority. This list had in old days merely 
been known within the University, and was only 
regarded as furnishing an order of precedency ; 
but during the i8th century it came, as I have 
said, into notice, as a register of the comparative 
merits of the Bachelors of Arts. 



140 Historical Notices. 

The advantages of seniority of degree had 
been too trifling to attract much interest, but 
as soon as to take a good place in this register 
became equivalent to securing a College Fellow- 
ship, the " Tripos List" acquired much import- 
ance. The Proctor's privilege of granting Seniority 
was dropped, the order was strictly regulated by 
merit, the ambition of the abler students was 
awakened, and fresh life was thrown into academi- 
cal work. 

I have already said that to induce parents to 
spend their own money and their sons' time in 
obtaining a high liberal education, and also to lead 
the young men themselves to work steadily at a 
definite course of advanced study, some more co- 
gent motive is usually required than intellectual 
advantage, or the mere emulation of youth. This 
motive the Fellowships at Cambridge supplied. 
The stipend of a Fellow a century ago was 
small, but he got a creditable position, prospects 
of preferment, and he made sure of a maintenance 
iir the College, which became his home. This 
leisure for application offered great attractions to 
studious young men, and education prospered by 
the presence of a body of persons who were ready 
to teach or to examine for little or no remunera- 
tion. The Fellowships have now, as will be 



The Mathematical Tripos. 141 

shown, a different action altogether, but if we 
had had no Fellowships at Cambridge we should 
have had no Tripos : our lists of Honours would 
have been hardly ampler than those of Edinburgh 
or of London are now. The solid advantages which 
high Academical distinctions carried with them 
drew able men to Cambridge, and led them to work 
with energy and in a thorough manner; some few, 
no doubt, would have occupied themselves with 
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy without such 
inducement, but they would have been liable to 
the besetting sin of all amateurs — that of avoiding 
drudgery and hurrying over the dry parts of the 
subject, in order to expatiate in its pleasanter 
regions. 

The competition that was thus called out set 
the standard of merit high ; it soon was found that 
those who had been at the top of the List of 
Honours took the lead in life and in the professions ; 
the mysterious appellation of " Senior Wrangler" 
was everywhere regarded as signifying something 
stupendous; even to /'have taken Honours" car- 
ried with it considerable credit. When once a 
high standard had been attained, and a fair pro- 
portion of the students were engaged in reading 
for Honours, many would be drawn into the com- 
petition from the desire to do their part and tq 



142 Historical Notices. 

take their place among their fellows. When a 
body of men are pressing earnestly in one direc- 
tion, a number of others are always drawn on in 
their train. The larger the mass, the greater is 
its attraction; and the more numerous the com- 
petitors, the more spirit is thrown into the 
contest. A small class-list conveys the impres- 
sion of a neglected study, and there is no crite- 
rion of distinction so readily understood by the 
public as that of having beaten a large number of 
others. 

From what we can see of the feeling of a century 
ago, University distinctions, apart from prospects 
of gain, went for more in the world than they do 
now. In our time the attention of the parents and 
of some of the students is pretty closely directed 
to the question of profit. This arises partly from 
the increasing severity of the struggle to '"get 
on," partly from the fact that a much larger pro- 
portion of our students is now drawn from a 
class used to take *' business" views of matters 
than was formerly the case, and more than all, 
from the competition for scholarships, when at 
school, having brought pecuniary rewards much 
under the notice of young people. 

The course of proceedings for the B. A. degree, 
which has just been related, had gradually grown 



The- Mathematical Tripos. 143 

up, and the regulations rested on a traditional 
but well-understood practice. Dr J ebb's pro- 
posed changes attracted the attention of the 
University to the state of the Examinations, and 
in 1779 a code of regulations was drawn up. 
The general purport of this code was to warrant 
by legislation what had hitherto rested on custom, 
and the mode of procedure continued to be, in the 
main, very similar to that which has been described ; 
but one or two points call for notice. 

Prior to 1779, it had been found that many 
candidates for Honours had hurried forward to the 
more advanced subjects, without being thoroughly 
acquainted with the lower ones. Tutors had been 
asked to warn their pupils that the moderators 
would not allow credit for answers to questions in 
the more abstruse parts of subjects, to those who 
had shewn ignorance in the lower parts. This 
warning was embodied in a Grace in 1779. A 
candidate who is deficient in his Euclid and ele- 
mentary Natural Philosophy is to be given to 
understand — "altiora mathesios nequicquam se 
assecutum." 

This complaint of the neglect of the lower sub- 
jects, as we shall find, frequently recurs ; this evil 
may no doubt be encouraged by certain forms of 
Examination, but it is not one with which the 



144 Historical Notices, 

Examination system is to be specially charged. 
It is brought to light, indeed, by Examinations, 
but it exists in systems of education into which 
Examinations do not enter. A remedy for this 
evil was afterwards found in a lengthened pre- 
liminary Examination in the lower subjects. 

According to this "Grace" of 1779, the can- 
didates are to be broken up into classes for ex- 
amination by the moderators, according to the 
estimate they have formed of them from the "Act." 
A day was to be given to questions in Natural 
Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Locke On the 
Hzmiaii Understanding. The words of the Grace 
" Quum Philosophia Moralis in Examinatione pie- 
risque nimium neglecta videatur," point to a neglect 
of this branch. The candidates were divided into 
six previous classes, which were to be examined 
in different subjects, according to their reading. 
The questions from books were given out vivd 
voce; the problem papers were printed, if not 
so early as 1779, at least within a few years 
afterwards. The morning problems were given 
to all the classes in the Senate House : no 
writing-tables were provided, but the candidates 
usually knelt down and wrote in the window seat; 
or sometimes on the flat board of the college cap, 
the tassel having been torn out. The evening 



The Mathematical Tripos. 145 

problems were only given to the higher classes 
who went to the moderators' rooms. 

Only two classes were to be examined In 
book-work at a time by the moderators. The 
reason given for this is a curious one : " Quo 
cautum sit ne Qusestionistse ab Examlnatoribus 
nimium occupati aliorum Regentium et Non- 
Regentlum ExaminatlonI minus vacare possent." 
This shews that the body of Masters of Arts 
still exercised their privilege of examining — 
of course gratuitously, and were tenacious of It. 
In fact the whole residing body of the Senate 
regarded themselves as engaged In education, 
as well as in supervision. 

At the end of the Examination the moderators 
and E^jaminers (for the moderators of the pre- 
ceding year were to act as Examiners) were to 
.put out a list of names "In classes quam mlnlmas,'* 
-that is to say, a rough classification took place. 
These classes were called ''Brackets." If all 
those whose names were Included in a Bracket 
were content to abide by what they had done, 
the Examination was at an end; but If any one 
wished for an additional Examination, some well- 
known Examiner was called in for this purpose. 
After this the moderators, taking counsel with 
all those who had assisted In the Examination, 
L. 10 



146 Historical Notices. 

drew up a final list in order of merit : this was the 
" finalis Honorum designatio." 

We observe in this Grace of 1779 that, though 
the Examination was more than heretofore viewed 
as a means of ascertaining relative superiority, yet 
that its educational bearing was kept distinctly 
in view. An effort was made, we see, to give 
effect to the Moral Philosophy, and the co-opera- 
tion of the Praelectors, who were then persons 
engaged in college tuition, brought the working 
of the Examination under the notice of the teach- 
ing body. We shall see, as we proceed, that with- 
out the supervision of those who are interested in 
education, an Examination may become absolutely 
injurious to the cultivation of the young. 

After this, the length of the Examination was 
increased from time to time, but the general plan 
of it remained the same until 1828, when the num- 
ber of the previous classes was reduced to four, 
and the Examiners were permitted to give the 
same Examination to all if they thought fit. They 
availed themselves of this permission to some 
extent. The Moral Philosophy seems by this time 
■again to have become inoperative. In order to 
enforce attention to the lower subjects it was di- 
rected that on the first day of the Examination 
the Differential Calculus should not be used. But 



The Mathematical Tripos. i^y 

the change which had the most practical effect was, 
that the whole of the questions — those from books 
and not only the problems as hitherto — were or- 
dered to be printed, and they were published in 
the Cambridge Calendar. This brought the course 
for Mathematical Honours clearly before the pub- 
lic; and it very soon shewed its effect in an in- 
crease of the number of candidates. It spread the 
influence of the Examination over the whole coun- 
try, and the direct and immediate effect of this was 
salutary, as that of Examinations generally has 
been. The remote effects require a fuller analysis 
than can be given in this narrative, and I shall 
speak of them hereafter. 

The course which the successive changes took 
shews that the Examination, which at first had 
been only an incident in an academical education, 
came gradually to be so important, that the younger 
part of the body might well fancy that the final 
cause of University teaching was to train students 
to take high degrees. We shall see as we go on 
that those who clung to the old-fashioned educa- 
tional view, viz. that the object of University 
teaching was to do the most mental good to the stu- 
dents, and that the distinctions were subsidiary to 
this end, resisted this tendency, and, as the legis- 
lative power was largely in the hands of these 

lo — 2 



i.48 Historical Notices. 

persons, their opposition moderated many of the 
evil influences which they saw growing up. But 
we observe that everything that impeded accu- 
rate discrimination between the candidates was 
gradually swept away, and so far as we have gone 
it cannot be said that education suffered much 
from the loss, although the old provisions had 
been introduced on educational grounds. 

We shall find that when an Examination Is 
left in the hands of the Examiners, and is not 
controlled by those who are interested in edu- 
cation, discrimination is more thought of than 
anything else : for Examiners consider that classifi- 
cation is their raison d'etre. This is a positive 
law which we may see exemplified in the history 
of all Examinations, and the operation of which 
I shall often have to note. The subject of Moral 
Philosophy destroyed the homogeneity of the 
Tripos, and was thereby an obstacle to exact 
classification. This was looked on coldly by the 
Examiners In consequence, and it eventually dis- 
appeared. The Interference of the Fathers of 
Colleges was another element of confusion. It 
hindered the Examiners in arriving at an exact 
result, and it was got rid of accordingly^ 

Again, a difficulty arose from the practice of 
giving different questions to the different classes. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 149 

The marks allotted to the paper given to the 
first class might be twice as many as those of 
that given to the third ; but if the paper was more 
than twice as difficult, it would answer the stu- 
dent's purpose better to get placed in the third 
of the previous classes than in the first It 
seems that this practice did actually lead to some 
"jockey-ship" of the kind, and it was in conse- 
quence entirely abandoned in 1839. It was cer- 
tainly a clumsy contrivance, but it aimed at pro- 
viding that each candidate should be thoroughly 
examined in what he had read. If all were given 
the same papers there would either be so little 
within the reach of the weaker men, that they 
would learn on speculation some scraps of subjects 
beyond their legitimate range, or the questions 
from the lower subjects would have to be so 
unduly numerous as to load the papers and em- 
barrass those who had read the full course. This 
evil became sensible soon after the change was 
made, and was remedied in 1848 by the pre- 
liminary Examination which I have already 
mentioned and of which an account will be given 
further on. 

The code of regulations sanctioned in 1837 
completed the series of changes which converted 
the course of academical exercises for a degree in 



150 Historical Notices. 

Honours at Cambridge into a competitive Exa- 
mination in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. 
By a stretch of the powers of the University, the 
series of Disputations in the Arts' Faculty, which 
had for years become so mere a form as not even 
to furnish satisfactory grounds for dividing the 
candidates into previous classes for examination, 
was now utterly swept away, and the whole 
system laid down by the Statutes of Elizabeth, 
was replaced by a continuous Examination, lasting 
for six days, in which all candidates had the same 
questions proposed on paper. 

We may observe here that the mechanism 
of Examination became gradually simpler. This 
was necessitated by the increasing number of 
the candidates as well as by the more refined 
accuracy of discrimination which was now ex- 
pected. We shall find a similar tendency to 
simplification in the history of other systems of 
Examination. Those who frame the schemes in 
the first instance usually have their attention 
drawn to the cases of various classes of possible 
candidates ; and the educational bearing of this or 
that regulation is sure to be commented on by 
tutors or schoolmasters. Hence adaptations and 
corrections are introduced, and the machine is 
made somewhat complex, in order that it may 



The Mathematical Tripos. 151 

perform many functions at once. But when the 
scheme has been launched it falls into the hands 
of the Examiners, and the changes they make 
or get made are apt to run in one direction. 
These modifications are almost sure to remove 
one after another the checks or the options which 
had been introduced, as well as to economise the 
Examiner's pains. The ideal of all Examinations, 
in the eyes of some of those who are taken up 
with conducting them, would seem to be, a ma- 
chine capable of discriminating "merit" with the 
utmost nicety at the least cost of labour and time. 

Regarded from this point of view, the Tripos 
in 1839 had nearly arrived at perfection; the 
questions were most carefully chosen, the sim- 
plicity of form it had attained made it readily 
understood by tutors through the country, and 
the number of candidates for Mathematical Ho- 
nours steadily increased. 

Cambridge was proud of the institution she 
had perfected, and she might well be so. She 
had invented a method of estimating merit, which 
was extremely definite, and which as long as it 
was confined to the Mathematical Sciences was 
singularly correct. The. credit of the Tripos rests 
on the order it lays down being confirmed by the 
judgment of the principal Tutors. A Tutor who 
has marked the way in which different men take 



152 Historical Notices. 

in matter and make it their own, must be able to 
rate their powers more nicely than an Examiner 
can, who only sees what they produce on paper 
in a limited time ; and if the teachers go' steadily 
against the Examiners, and say ^! you have put 
the wrong man first," the public^ — at least the 
University public — will be inclined to side with 
their opinion. But as a matter of fact, the verdict 
of the Examiners usually accorded very remark- 
ably with the views of the Tutors. 

The Mathematical Tripos had certainly ac- 
complished one immense good ; it had, in its own 
sphere, exterminated "jobbery" and the influence 
of personal interest. This may not seem much to 
us, living in a time when so much publicity is 
given to all transactions that people must " as- 
sume a virtue if they have it not ;" but in the 
days when the Tripos grew into existence things 
went almost everywhere by favour, and it took 
a long time to persuade those of the former 
generation that it was not at Cambrido;e as else- 
where. 

The system of numerical marks helped to 
foster the integrity of the Examinations. The 
numbers furnished by the different Examiners 
in subjects of the same kind were added up, and 
the resulting figures determined the order. It 
was not like voting that one or more individuals 



Xhe Mathematical Tripos. 153 

should get a prize, or be placed in a first class. 
We may conceive that in this case, particularly if 
discussions were allowed, a person might be un- 
consciously swayed by some unacknowledged in- 
fluences, or he might bend to a stronger and more 
self-asserting colleague, but no one could falsify 
figures as he was marking separate questions, 
without being really a dishonest man. 

We may now think, since a Fellow of a 
College became in most cases one of the govern- 
ing body of a place of education, that certain per- 
sonal considerations, such as temper and good 
breeding, might have been properly taken into 
account ; but such was the horror of fallinof into 
a system of patronage — of becoming, as it used 
to be said, " just like Deans and Chapters," bodies 
which were altogether different 40 years ago from 
what they now are — that Colleges adhered to the 
verdict of the Tripos to an extent which may 
sometimes have been a little prudish^. A belief 
in the sanctity of Examinations thus became an 
article of every Cambridge man's creed, and a 
charge of favour or of neglect would have been 
most damaging to an Examiner. 

We have now reached a point where dls- 

^ Excepting where there was a distinct Examination for the Fellow- 
ships, as was the case at Trinity College. 



154 Historical Notices. 

putation had sunk altogether out of sight, and 
people were stretching hopefully away to that 
region of Examinations in which we are now 
dwelline : and here I must observe one or two 
instances of contrast between the old *' Cambridge 
Tripos" and the new " Mathematical Tripos," 
The difference of names half tells the story of the 
change. In the last half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, when a young man of ability came to the 
University and was desirous of gaining distinction, 
it was not his primary object to become a mathe- 
matician, or that of his Tutor to make him one. 
He wanted to be the first man in the "Cambridge 
Tripos." This meant, the list of the ablest of 
her sons which the University put out when they 
had completed her course of study. It happened 
that Mathematics and Natural Philosophy were 
most prominent in this course because they were 
thought most valuable as instruments of a liberal 
education ; but some knowledge of Latin and 
Logic was taken for granted, and Moral Philo- 
sophy was upheld by the authorities, as we have 
seen, after it had lost favour in the opinion of the 
younger members of the Senate. 

The authorities did not think of producing 
professional mathematicians, what they wanted to 
do was to turn out able men, and this they did. 



J 



The Mathematical Tripos. 155 

The difficulties that beset the reading man at that 
time hindered his progress, no doubt, but were 
excellent discipline for the struggle of life. Stu- 
dents in those days were not allowed private 
tutors during their last year, and rarely had 
recourse to them at other times : neither had they 
text-books adapted to examination with the sub- 
ject cut up into detached propositions. They did 
not find the knowledge they wanted, in sections 
numbered off for reference and put into the form 
in which it was to be written out; they had to 
cast it into this shape themselves, with the help 
of directions given in the College Lectures. They 
read works written by men of science for men 
of science, such as those of Newton and others 
enumerated by Dr J ebb in a passage quoted 
above. These books contained some echoes of 
past controversies on the principles of mechanics, 
which still made their rumblings heard in notes 
and in prefaces ; and sometimes an ingenious dis- 
putant in his Act would wake into momentary life 
some old crotchet, which had gone to take its 
place in the " History of Human Error." These 
discussions relieved science of its purely abstract 
character ; they brought up recollections of great 
intellects in conflict, and they served to keep alive 
the human sympathies of the students of physics. 



156 Historical Notices. 

When the youngster now skims over the chapter 
on elementary principles in his manual, and gives 
it scanty attention in his eagerness to get for- 
ward, he little thinks how hardly those same 
primary truths were come by. 

The Cambridge manuals of five-and-thirty 
years ago were taken from the manuscripts used 
in the College Lectures, and in consequence they 
were little more than a Syllabus containing the 
demonstrations of theorems ; the explanatory mat- 
ter was to be given by the Lecturer off-hand. It 
was owino- to this that such books were rather as- 
semblages of propositions than complete treatises, 
and this original accident of form has injuriously 
affected Cambridge manuals until very lately. 

It was no doubt good for the abler young 
men to make their way through books which 
were not written for Students or for Examinations. 
They read not as schoolboys learning lessons, 
but as those would who wanted to know the secrets 
of physics. They were brought into contact with 
great minds, and this had an elevating effect ; it 
made men of them. But on the other hand, they 
got over much less ground than those of like 
ability do now; they knew fewer branches of 
science, though they got a greater amount of 
educational advantage from what they did know. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 157 

The feebler ones however came off badly ; the 
exertion of hewing from the quarry which 
braced the sinews of the vigorous, paralysed or 
exhausted them. The stronger men very soon 
made their way to the front. Any little advan- 
tage in point of previous preparation was soon 
lost by the weaker man. The stiffness of the 
course brought out power and steadfastness of 
resolve. The weaker ones suffered in two ways ; 
they were disheartened by the demand on them 
for energy and resolute work to which they were 
not equal, and also by seeing how easily the men 
of greater vigour passed them by. We see here, 
as v/e so often do, how unfavourable the condition 
of things was to the feebler ones in old times. 
The theory of that day, not only in University 
matters but in School life and domestic life as 
well, was that people were to be made hardy and 
vigorous. The "survival of the fittest" produced 
perhaps a generation of more sustained energy 
than our own ; but we cannot reconcile ourselves 
to the extinction of the less fit which this state of 
things involved. We now hold it our duty to do 
the best we can for all, and to give to all our 
material, good and bad alike, the highest polish 
it will take. This duty complicates the problems 
we have before us. 



158 Historical Notices. 

At the time which I have reached in my 
narrative (1839), Cambridge had as yet no doubt 
about her system, she was exulting in the distinc- 
tions of men who had been trained m a course 
more conducive to thoroughness and self-reHance 
than that which was then actually in operation, and 
the Tripos took credit for Lord Lyndhurst, Mr 
Justice Maule, Sir Frederick Pollock, Baron 
Alderson, and others who had been reared in the 
rough school I have been speaking of. 

We hear people who have not looked much 
into the matter speak as if Senior Wranglers had 
degenerated. This I believe, if w^e reckon by 
ability or even vigour of mind, will be found to be 
untrue. But it is a fact that the type of man is 
changed. The highest mathematical education of 
Cambridge is no longer simply a liberal education, 
training the powers of the man for active life, but 
it is for the highest men also a technical education 
in mathematical physics. A high wrangler for- 
merly was a man of highly developed general 
mental power. Now he is also an accomplished 
mathematician, qualified for immediately under- 
taking a scientific post, and such posts exist in 
sufficient abundance to provide for the highest 
men at an early age. 

For many years no Senior Wrangler went to 



The Maikematical Tripos. 159 

the Bar ; on the other hand there was not a Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics or Natural Philosophy in. 
Great Britain that had not been a high wrangler. 
A Professorship offered a young man an imme- 
diate competence for work which was congenial 
to him, and this he took in preference to enter- 
ing on an apprenticeship to a new study. It is 
true, however, that at the present moment, Profes- 
sorships seem to be rather less coveted. These 
posts bring in stipends, so moderate as hardly to 
answer the expectations which young men of 
ability now entertain, and they in consequence are 
turning their eyes to the more brilliant but uncer- 
tain prospects of active life. It may seem humi- 
liating, but it will be found to be true, that the 
results of the higher education are on the whole 
influenced by supply and demand, very much 
as those of manufacturing industry are. We 
may find a few cases of men who have a strong 
bent for some kind of learning or some profes- 
sion, and who will make sacrifices to pursue it, 
just as we find now and then a porcelain manu- 
facturer who spends a fortune in improving art ; 
but as we should not reckon on finding such en- 
thusiasts, in our transactions in trade, so in all 
schemes of education which are left, as those of 
the English Universities are, to the sole operation 



i6o Historical Notices. 

of supply and demand, we must suppose that the 
great mass of people will be actuated by consi- 
dering the return, in the way of profit, or position, 
or means of enjoyment, which their children will 
obtain for the pains and money spent on their 
education. 

We must not claim for the Cambridge Tripos 
too large a share in the credit of producing the 
great men I have named. The education they 
got was indeed admirably calculated to give them 
firmness of mental grasp ; but what Cambridge 
especially did for them was, that it brought them 
early to the front. Great men will usually get some- 
how or other cultivation for themselves, but they 
may be buried so far down that they only struggle 
above ground too late to come to perfection. The 
main credit due to Cambridge in these cases was 
that of right discrimination. The man who had 
been at the head of the Tripos came to be the 
head of his profession. It must, however, be 
recollected, that in the beginning of the century 
the competitors at the Bar were fewer in pro- 
portion to the business than they now are, and 
they were more restricted to particular classes. 

A young man proceeding to the Bar with a 
good degree carried with him in those days a strong 
prestige ; and this, besides its external advantages, 



The Mathematical Tripos. i6i 

helped him on. He felt that much was expected 
of him, and he looked to doing over again in the 
world what he had done in the University. It may 
have made him conceited, but it was no petty 
vanity ; it was a conceit which made him think 
that he might try for any prize or position in life, 
and I wish that our young men had more of it. 
His early success had pitched his life in a high 
key, and given him confidence in his strength and 
eventual success, so that he would be encouraged 
to pass by small temporary advantages which 
might otherwise have lured him from playing the 
grand game. 

While the Tripos was becoming more and 
more an exclusively Mathematical Examination, 
and at the same time was being regarded very 
generally as an avenue to Fellowships, those who, 
followed other branches of learning' began to com- 
plain. There had always been at Cambridge a 
small but distinguished body of classical scholars. 
The Chancellor's Medals, the University Scholar-r 
ships, and the Fellowship Examinations at Trinity- 
College, had 'supplied prizes for the ablest men, 
but there was little or no encouragement for 
any short of the ablest. I have before observed 
that all through the time that we have been con- 
sidering there may be marked a growing desire to 

L H 



1 62 The Mathematical Tripos. 

do the best not only for the first-rate men, but for 
those of different degrees of abihty as well ; and 
as it is only in a general class list that second 
rate men can hope to see their names in a place 
of credit, a movement was set on foot to establish 
what from the analogy of the old name was called 
a Classical Tripos. Still the Mathematical Tripos 
represented the old Cambridge course, it alone 
gave the degree, and it was made necessary that 
in order to compete for Classical Honours a 
person should have attained at least the position 
of a Junior Optime. This provision added a new 
function to the Mathematical Tripos, it was no 
longer purely an Examination for those who 
were competing for distinction in Mathematics ; 
for a certain number of the candidates it became 
a pass Examination. 

The Mathematical Tripos for some years 
after 1838, appeared an unqualified success; it 
called out a great amount of energy both in 
teaching and in learning, and in the eyes of the 
younger people it came to be regarded not as the 
means of education, but as being itself the end 
to which all education was directed ; thus it be- 
came an idol just as idol-worship has come about 
in other cases. People found at last that from 
having been a servant of University education, 



The Mathematical Tripos. 163 

this Examination had become the lord and arbiter 
of all : instead of the Examination giving a sanc- 
tion to a mode of teaching, the Examination 
called into existence that kind of teaching which 
was most suited to ensure success for the com- 
petitor. It was quite agreeable to the ordinary 
economical laws that this should be so : but it 
was not then understood that these laws extended 
to educational matters. 

When a certain kind of Examination is set 
up, when by success in this, advantages are to 
be obtained which are desired by many, and 
especially when the whole range of the Exami- 
nation is before the public, so that the conditions 
for gaining the greatest success with the least 
labour can be made out, then it is just as 
certain that a kind of teaching adapted to the 
purpose will appear and supersede other teach- 
ing, as it is that if a new fabric come into fashion, 
a loom specially adapted for producing it will 
be brought into general use. ' The public teach- 
ing of the University consisted of Professorial 
lectures which had fallen into disuse, and the 
lectures given in the Colleges. There had always 
been a few private tutors. These now became 
so much resorted to that the teaching seemed 
to have passed out of the hands of the University. 

II— 2 



■I 54 The Mathematical Tripos. 

But the University could still have exerted her 
supremacy if she only began at the right end. 
If the fashion was calling into existence a flimsy 
fabric and bad work, it only lay with her to alter 
the fashion. It was her Examinations that created 
the demand for the article, and if they brought 
a bad article into the market, it was sufficient 
ground for altering them. The Examinations 
had, as I have said, by degrees been made into 
an excellent instrument for selection, but they 
were also used as the main guide for education, 
and this purpose had of late been lost sight of in 
framing them; in part however they brought into 
light shortcomings in the public teaching. 

Pupils found that to do well in an Examination 
they must not only have what they ought to 
know set before them, which the College Lec- 
turers had done, but that they must also have 
rsome one to see that they knew this, and could 
produce it. They had to be shewn how to put 
their knowledge on. paper : for this they needed 
Examination Papers in portions of their work, 
which should be looked over with them ; such 
assistance was only supplied by the Colleges in 
the last Term, when the Prselectors according to' 
old custom examined the Ouestionists to. ascertain 
their fitness for entering the schools. 



The Mathematical Triposl 165; 

Private tutors afforded the assistance re- 
quired, they made it their business to see that the 
pupil learnt, and the system of private tuition so 
spread as to threaten, as some of those who raised^ 
the alarm said, to overwhelm all other teaching.' 
This new system had the advantage of supplying 
the pupil with a continuous guide who knew his 
mental constitution, and could advise him as to 
his course of reading accordingly, while in college 
he passed from one lecturer to another, and his 
communication with his College Tutor, whose 
function it is to supply this element of continuity, 
was not always close or constant enough to 
answer the purpose. 

It happened at the time I am speaking of, 
that Cambridge was very fortunate in the person 
who obtained the greatest eminence as a private 
tutor, Mr William Hopkins (for some time Presi- 
dent of the Geological Society). He occupied in 
fact at Cambridge the position which a Professor 
Extraordinary holds in Germany; he taught his 
pupils in well assorted classes of from four to 
eight, and this is probably the most perfect mode 
of teaching the higher mathematics ; thus the 
ablest men of the different Colleees were broup-ht 
together; and, being a very high-minded man, 
thoroughly earnest in his devotion both to science^ 



1 66 The Mathematical Tripos. 

and education, he gave his pupils an elevated 
view of their work. He banished from his 
Lecture-room all reference to the Examination ; 
the keenest pursuer of the main chance never 
ventured to ask him, if this or that ''would pay 
in the Senate House." He taught his class 
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the 
best form. They must, he would say, learn In 
the faith that what was most for their profit 
would bring them their due credit. 

There can be no healthy teaching which does 
not rest for its working on this sort of confidence 
between the teacher and pupil. It may require 
the sanction of some advantage in prospect to 
induce the pupil to embark on the higher course 
of study, but when he is embarked, the Examina- 
tion and the rewards should pass out of his sight; 
he should not be constantly stimulated by being 
shown the profit which this or that bit of know- 
ledge may bring. The kindly feeling between 
pupil and teacher should make the cordial ap- 
proval of the latter sufficient encouragement for 
what the pupil wants on the way, and he must 
trust the teacher to take him along the right 
road. The teacher moreover, to do his work satis- 
factorily, must feel confident that the questioning 
in the Examination will justify the course he has 



The Mathematical Tripos. 167 

taken in adopting a liberal and intelligent kind 
of instruction : he must trust the Examination 
and the pupil must trust him. 

Here we come to the truth on which we must 
rest. If we can frame an Examination in which 
that which will enable the candidate to do the 
best is that which it is best for him to learn, and 
to learn in the best way, then we shall have 
constructed a perfect educational instrument. In 
the case of mathematics we may, I think, hope 
to arrive at what we want, approximately, in this 
essential point, provided that we keep our main 
object closely in view, and do not expect our 
system to do too many things at once. 

All tutors were not like Mr Hopkins, and an 
idea got abroad that private tutors directed their 
teaching more immediately to success in the Se- 
nate House than was the case with the College 
Lectures, or than was always desirable or even 
politic in the end. The Lecturers indeed al- 
ways maintained high ground in this respect. Mr 
Blakesley, Tutor of Trinity College, now Dean 
of Lincoln, who tried to bring the private 
tutors into connection with the college system, 
repudiates all notion of working up to the Ex- 
amination, He says ^: "College Lectures should 

^ Where docs, the Evil lie ? A pamphlet by Rev. J. W. Blakesley, 1845. 



1 68 The Mathematical Tripos. 

be most religiously kept free from any other 
object than that of putting the subject lectured on 
in the clearest light and on the most philosophical 
basis." 

The objection to private tuition which was 
most strongly taken up by the public was ground- 
ed on the expense of the system and of the 
advantaofe thus ^iven to the richer men. The 
expense has been much reduced, and practically, 
If an able man could not afford to pay for 
this assistance himself the College or College 
Tutor would supply the means. The richer 
men have no doubt advantages in being able to 
purchase any books they want and in other 
ways, but these are counterbalanced by their 
having less strong inducements to industry. An 
objection that lies deeper, is the tendency to 
overhelplng inherent in a system of private tuition. 
Young men, as Dr Whev/ell says^, ran to their 
tutor for the solution of a dijfficulty before they 
could clearly say where their difficulty was, and 
there were tutors whose special art lay in storing 
a pupil's memory with little artifices and con- 
venient formulae, to the starving of his mind. I 
conceive the temptation both to overhelp and to 

^ Whewel], Of a Liberal Education, 1848. This book gives a full 
history qf the Tripos, and I have been much indebted to it. • • ' 



The Mathe^ndticil Tripos. 169 

tlie overcharging with formulae may be obviated 
to a very great extent by a thoroughly scientific 
system of Examination : this view is taken by Dr 
Merivale, the present Dean of Ely, in his evi- 
dence given to the University Commission Iri 
1852. Indeed,, taking the Examination as it is, 
it is found that students of fair ability do better In 
the Senate House when they have been made 
to depend a good deal on themselves and are not 
overloaded with formulae and " short methods." 
It Is a great advantage in the Tripos that the 
course for it extends over so 'long a time that 
the fruit not only of instruction but of good habits 
of mind inculcated has time to come to lirht. 
Thus a tutor may hope to see the good of having 
formed his pupil's mind, and not only that of 
having filled it to meet the occasion. This is 
the great point of difference between preparing a- 
pupil for a University degree, for which he has 
three years' time or more, and "coaching him 
up" for some competitive Examination which is 
to take place in a few months. In the latter 
case a little training of memory of course takes 
place, but there is no time to form good habits 
or remove bad ones. 

Another objection rested on the effects of the 
system, not on the pupils but on the tutors them- 



170 The Mathe77iatical Tripos. 

selves. Every young man who had taken a high 
degree soon got as many pupils as he cared to 
have. He was naturally tempted to increase his 
income in this way, instead of employing the 
"trusted leisure" which his Fellowship afforded, 
for research or for high cultivation. These young 
men had no experience and little authority, they 
were therefore likely to direct their teaching to the 
points which the pupils most valued. The pupils 
who resorted to them would usually be of the 
weaker sort, for the College Tutor would take 
care that the abler men had the help of one who 
had made teaching a profession, and these feebler 
men would force their tutor to give them more 
help than was good for them. Weak men have 
a craving for help, and they set much value on 
short methods and compendious formulae, and 
advice immediately relative to the Examination, 
so that a tutor anxious for pupils would be under 
temptation to teach in a narrow spirit. These 
evils were forcibly exposed by Dr Whewell in the 
work already quoted, and also by Mr Blakesley. 
Dr Peacock, in the work of which I have made 
free use above, proposed the reintroduction of the 
old restriction on private tuition, but no proposal 
to this effect came before the Senate. Such a 
step would, I think, have been nugatory. It would 



The Mathematical Tripos. 171 

have been like prohibiting the use of a certain 
kind of advantageous mechanism in a manu- 
facture. 

Private tuition has now become a regular pro- 
fession; it has its recognised place in the teaching 
of the University, and some of the ablest mathe- 
maticians in Cambridge are engaged in preparing 
pupils for the Tripos. Many of these are also 
College Lecturers. Private tuition Avas indeed 
called into existence not by what was bad in the 
Examination system, but by what was its most 
undeniable good, by the necessity it imposed on 
a man of bringing his knowledge into a clear and 
definite form. Examiners have no mercy on the 
man who shews that he only half understands a 
matter. Now the knowledge carried away from a 
lecture which is not strictly catechetical, that is to 
say, which does not in a degree partake of the 
character of private tuition, is almost sure to be 
misty, or at least to have bits of cloud hanging 
about it. The special art of a good teacher lies 
in being able to bring to the too easily contented 
pupil the consciousness that he has only half ap- 
prehended some points and wholly misconceived 
others. This costs labour and requires skill, and 
the pupil must be in close communication with 
the teacher and in earnest to learn. Examinations 



172 The Mathematical Tripos. 



supplied the motive, and the requisite sort of 
teaching came into existence when wanted. It 
might have been supplied to some extent by the 
Colleges, and It now is so to a considerable de- 
gree, but part of the good of the system lay in 
its being one of perfectly free trade, and the com- 
bination of free trade with University superin- 
tendence required more organic changes than 
could have been carried out at the time I am 
speaking of (1841- — 45). 

A movement had taken place In mathema- 
tical science between 1800 and 1820, to which 
I must now refer, Inasmuch as its effects in- 
fluenced the form of the Examinations. The 
works of several French mathematicians, Lacroix, 
Lagrange and others, had been translated at Cam- 
bridge, and came Into general use. They pre- 
sented a method of mathematical Investigation, 
which was technically called the Analytical me- 
thod, as opposed to that used by Newton and his 
followers, which is called Synthetical. In the 
former the use of algebraical symbols greatly pre- 
dominated, while in the latter geometrical con- 
structions were chiefly employed. Hence we find 
the terms Analytical and Synthetical often used 
as though they were synonymous with Algebraical 
and Geometrical respectively, which is by no means 



The Mathematical Tripos, 173 

the case ^. The Analytical methods were more 
powerful, more easy to handle, and led more 
readily to. results. By means of them new fields 
of mathematical investigation were laid open, and 
some of these were especially fertile in attractive 
problems. This highly recommended these me- 
thods to the Examiner, because an Examiner finds 
it much easier to rate a man's knowledge by making 
him apply it than by seeing him produce what he 
has learnt. He will therefore always have a lean- 
ing to that side of a subject which yields appli- 
cations and examples — that side, in fact, of the 
science which results in an '' Art," using the word 
in its old sense. The teachers also rejoiced in a 
method which furnished an abundance of useful 
and interesting examples, and which, indeed, 
created one subject, Analytical Geometry, which 
offers countless problems. It is one of the results 
of publishing the Examination Papers, that all 
practicable problems get used up, and Examiners 
are driven to invent puzzles,— for it is a point of 
honour not to set what has been given before. 

1 I cannot here give a criticism of these methods, cr an adequate com- 
parison of their values in Education. I must refer to the evidence of 
■Prof. Stokes, Mr. Leslie Ellis, and others, in the Report of the Conunis' 
don in 1852, and to the Report of the JFre?ich Cotnmissioners in 1870. 
The latter agree with Prof. Stokes, that for the full comprehension of a. 
subject, the pupil should for a while carry on both processes side by side, , 



174 The Mathematical Tripos. 

Hence an Examiner seizes with avidity on a 
newly-discovered vein of science which is said to 
be rich in problems ^. Teachers and Examiners 
both, therefore, hailed the new methods, and we 
may add pupils as well, for much hard headwork 
was hereby saved, and many subjects were opened 
to the feebler men which they could not have 
dealt with by the old methods. Those who were 
interested in scientific investigation would of 
course use the new processes exclusively ; they 
had been developed in France in order to meet 
the needs of original investigators, and without 
their help the progress of science must have been 
much restricted. 

Hence pupils, teachers. Examiners and savants 
concurred in advocating the use of Analytical 

1 I have said in the last chapter that the old disputations forced all know- 
ledge into a dialectical form ; so in a slighter degree our Examinations 
have induced those occupied with them, to view scientific subjects as 
matter for problems, and to invest the sciences, as it were, with difficulties 
beyond those which they naturally offer, that they may serve as exercises for 
determining the relative power and ingenuity of the competitors. The 
longer a kind of Examination has been in existence, the more apparent this 
tendency becomes. Our Examination Papers are growing more abstrusely 
scientific than science herself. The French Commissioners, M. Demogeot 
and M. Montucci, complain, and with much truth, that our papei's will train 
men a opcrcr plutot qu'a refiechir. They however had had no experience 
of the exigencies of a long-establi§hed series of examinations mainly di- 
rected to discrimination. In Classics, Theology, English Literature, and 
other subjects, the same tendency may be observed, and that not at Cam- 
bridge only. Examination papers are evei-ywhere becoming more and more 
a repertory of the difficulties which the subjects can be made to present. " 



The Mathematical Tripos, 175 



methods, and the old Geometrical methods went 
out of use altogether. 

But in 1 845 Dr Whewell, though he had him- 
self taken part in early life in introducing the new 
methods, advocated the restoration of the old 
methods for elementary teaching on purely educa- 
cational grounds. It was argued that by follow- 
ing the old method the student saw at every step 
what he was doing; that in the new one, after he 
had written^ down certain equations, whether the 
subject were mechanics or geometry, he lost sight 
of the distinctive character of the matter and 
arrived at the result by performing certain alge- 
braical processes. This it was said, and truly, 
detracted much from the educational value of the 
study. The pupil was like a spectator who sees 
linen rags put into a receptacle at one end of a 
paper-mill, is told to put one piece after another of 
machinery in motion, and is then taken to see 
these same rags passing out from under a roller at 
the other end of the mill in the form of a smooth 
breadth of paper. It was admitted that many of 
the weaker men, — and the compulsion laid on the 
classical scholars had loaded the Tripos with such 
men — performed operations in some branches of 
mathematics by following a sort of recipe, and that 
they hurried over their lower subjects in hopes to 



I 76 The Mathematical Tripos. 

be able to answer a few questions in subjects 
which they had better never have touched. 

This controversy, raised by Dr Whewell, hap- 
pily forced the University to consider the question, 
*' What is it that we are teachino^ the undergrradu- 
ates mathematics and physics for ?" It appears 
that the case is different for the higher and for 
the lower men. The good of our education, and 
indeed of all education, is tv/ofold, it is made up 
of the value of the acquirements an4 of the in- 
tellectual benefit obtained in the process of ac- 
quiring : with the abler men the first, with the 
inferior ones the second preponderates. A high 
wrangler has acquired a mastery over the lan- 
guage and the conceptions of science, he is in a 
position to apply himself to the higher teaching or 
to embark in research. Thus the attainments he 
has acquired have a great positive value, while in 
point of mental training the University has done 
no more for him than for those whose acquire- 
ments are much smaller, indeed possibly less ; 
because men of great ability usually train their 
own minds for themselves almost unconsciously. 
A considerable body of those who take mathe- 
matical honours obtain knowledge, Inferior indeed 
to that of the gifted few, but still well worth the 
having; it may be hard to say whether these 



The Mathematical Tripos. 177 

profit most by the knowledge they attain or by 
the improvement of their faculties. But there 
will remain a large number, who though they 
may keep in mind such elementary laws of Me- 
chanics, or Optics, or Astronomy as are exempli- 
fied by what constantly passes before their eyes, 
and may find greater interest in nature in conse- 
quence, must yet set down nineteen-twentieths of 
the profit derived from their course of study to 
its having hardened their brains, and given them 
a more perfect use of their own powers. The 
minds of the ablest men are well disciplined before 
coming to the University. They have got their 
attention, their memory, and other faculties well 
under command. The weaker men need the train- 
ing of a system, and the good they get from it is 
frequently very marked. The improvement in the 
fnan is often striking, while that in his k?towledge 
is only moderate. Thus the benefit which accrues 
to the candidate for Honours is made up of two 
elements, training and acquirement. With the 
Senior Wrangler nine-tenths may be set down to 
the acquirements obtained, with a low Junior 
Optime nine-tenths to the training. 

This suofSfests that different modes of treat- 
ment may be desirable for those who are to draw 
such different kinds of benefit from their studies. 
L. 12 



The Matliematical Tripos. 



Dr Whewell accordingly proposed to divide the 
Examination into two parts, one framed particu- 
larly with a view to mental training, and the other 
to test high acquirements. Many of his recom- 
mendations were carried out in a new code of regu- 
lations for the Mathematical Tripos, which came 
into operation In 1848. It did not however intro- 
duce any viva voce Examination though on this 
Dr Whewell had laid great stress. The educa- 
tional interest had rallied In preat force under Dr 
Whewell, but still with the majority of the Senate 
the paramount object was to secure perfect fair- 
ness of selection; and as in a viva voce Examination 
different candidates would be asked different 
questions, this, it was said, would derogate from 
that " equality for all" which was the pride of 
Cambridge. Moreover, there were two objections 
to a viva voce Examination for the Tripos which 
were weighty because they were practical. To 
examine orally in mathematics with good effect, 
demands a special insight Into the working of 
the learner's mind, and a happy knack of hitting 
on his strong and weak points. Many excellent 
mathematicians, whose services might in other 
v/ays be most valuable, would never obtain these 
faculties : just as there are many excellent lawyers 
who have no gift for cross-examining witnesses. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 1 79 

If, then, the oral part of the Examination were to 
be thoroughly well performed — and if it were not, 
it would become only an appendage to the paper 
work — this rare faculty would be regarded as es- 
sential, and the choice of Examiners would be 
restricted to the happy few who possessed it. 
Hereby, it was said, the advantage arising from 
the frequent introduction of fresh minds would be 
lost : the questions would run in grooves, and 
the candidates would find it more remunerative to 
study the papers of past years than to read in 
a. liberal way. 

The other objection applies to all viva voce 
Examinations, and will limit their use to cases 
in which the number of candidates is moderate. 
It turns on the costliness of the process in time 
and in labour. Two Examiners at least must 
be present to conduct the Examination ; the same 
Examiners should question all the candidates, and 
the examination of each candidate should last 
twenty minutes. Hence the time requisite for 
examining a number of candidates is very con- 
siderable, and cannot always be aiforded. 

On the other hand, all those w^ho have treated 
of Examinations have perceived that a viva voce 
Examination supplied a good corrective for the 
narrowing effect of a paper Examination, and had 

12 — 2 



i8o The Mathematical Tripos. 

other advantages. Questions put orally are not 
recorded in the published papers, so that a part of 
the Examination remains in the dark, and can- 
didates will not venture to disregard parts of their 
subjects because they do not find them introduced 
in the papers. If the tutor finds his pupils inclined 
to pass these matters by, he can urge that they 
may have to answer questions on them viva 
voce. 

Moreover, a paper only shews the knowledge 
of the candidate, but not all his ignorance, except 
by implication. If a question raise points about 
which he is not clear, he passes on to something 
else, but in viva voce he has no escape ; he must 
lay bare the state of his notions on the subjects on 
which he is questioned. If he shroud himself, as 
on paper he might do, under the words of a 
manual, the Examiner may ask him what they 
mean, or put some simple application which will 
test his grasp of the matter. The nerve, the pre- 
sence of mind, and readiness of expression which 
are encouraged by a viva voce Examination, are 
also worth considering; they are mental habits, or 
the results of mental habits, and are evidences of 
character as well as valuable for themselves. They 
can only be formed from practice ; and it is a 
good effect of this kind of Examination, that it 



The Mathematical Tripos. 1 8 1 

will induce tutors to habituate pupils to oral ques- 
tioning; to ensure this, however, it is necessary 
that the viva voce portion of the Examination, 
should be made of considerable importance. 

The University legislation of 1848 proceeded 
on the right track; it recognised in part the dis- 
tinctive functions of Examinations, and pro- 
vided separately for the discharge of each. 
Three days were allotted to the elementary sub- 
jects, which were to be treated without analysis, 
and every candidate had to obtain his degree by 
this Examination. This regulation was framed 
purely with a view to education. The distinctive 
conceptions belonging to the several physical sub- 
jects, which are of great educational value, are met 
with in the elementary parts of these subjects, 
and room was now given for forcing them on the 
attention of the student. Those who merely 
read mathematics to qualify themselves for the 
Classical Tripos found it advisable to confine 
themselves to the lower subjects, and in those 
they had an ample examination instead of a few 
scattered questions. After a short interval the 
Examination was resumed, and questions in the 
higher subjects, treated of course by the analytical 
methods, were then set. This portion of the 
Examination was meant to answer the needs both 



1 82 The Mathematical Tripos. 

of classification and also of scientific training. The 
places of candidates in the list depended on the 
combined result of the two Examinations. 

Dr Peacock and Dr Whewell had also urged 
another point, viz. the limitation both of the 
range of subjects comprised in the Senate-House 
Examination, and also of the extent of each sub- 
ject in itself. They prevailed so far, that a paper 
of directions to the Examiners was issued by the 
Board of Studies in 1850. The document is to be 
found In the Report of the Cambridge Commission 
of 1852, in the evidence of the Rev. J. G. Mould, 
Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College. 
It recommended the omission of investigations 
about which mathematicians are not agreed, and 
of those which lead to long analytical processes. 
Under the first head the mathematical theories of 
Heat, Electricity and Magnetism, then somewhat 
imperfect, but on which a question or two had been 
asked occasionally, were excluded, and under the 
second the student was relieved of much dead 
weight. The result of these measures certainly 
was satisfactory in an educational point of view, 
and the Examinations retained their efficiency in 
determining the relative merits of candidates. 

The Examination continued to be eoverned 
by this code of regulations for twenty years. The 



The Mathematical Tripos. i8 



o 



change that grew up in the meantime was in the 
direction of the extension of science. 

The Universities have two aspects, they are 
seats of learning and they are places of education: 
they are regarded sometimes more especially in 
the one light, sometimes in the other. In former 
times the functions of the teacher and the savant 
could be perfectly well combined in an indivi- 
dual ; science did not exact such exclusive de- 
votion as she does now, and education did not 
involve the labour and anxiety of constantly 
preparing classes for Examination^ — the greater 
pressure of our time calls for a division of labour 
in this as in other things. The casts of mind re- 
quired for a man of science and a teacher, though 
sometimes combined, are in one respect different. 
Sympathy with other minds is not essential for 
the former ; with the latter it is all in all. The 
former must be devoted avant tout to the pursuit 
of truth in the abstract, the latter must look mainly 
to the improvement of his pupils. If he, lights on 
a new problem or illustration, he takes an especial 
interest in it if it will serve to awaken clearer 
conceptions in some of his class; he is concerned in 
science chiefly as a vehicle of education ; while his 
own special knowledge turns on the individual va- 
rieties of young minds and their laws of growth 



184 The Mathematical Tripos. 

and action. To be a good schoolmaster a man 
must first understand boys. The interest of the 
savant, on the other hand, is in science for her 
own sake— he counts himself rewarded if he can 
add something to the sum of human knowledge, 
as the other does if he have called out latent 
intelligence and directed into a definite channel 
abilities which were running to waste. 

Owing to this diversity, we mark in the 
history of the Tripos the action of an educa- 
tional interest and a scientific interest — to use the 
terms rather in a colloquial sense. Those who 
looked mainly on the University as a place of 
learning were impatient of its being regarded as a 
mere school. They demanded that Cambridge 
teaching should embrace the sciences of Heat, 
Electricity and Magnetism, which were becoming 
of immense importance and use, and were falling 
more and more under mathematical treatment ; 
and their demand was most just. Scientific posts 
were being multiplied, men were wanted to fill 
them, a professional scientific education was re- 
quired, and where, if not at Cambridge, it was 
asked, was this to be got ? Cambridge, it was 
truly said, represented the mathematical learning 
of England, and it was derogatory to the country 
that the view of science she presented should 



The Mathematical Tripos. 



be scanty or imperfect. This view was gene- 
rally admitted, but it did not follow that these 
advanced subjects should be introduced into the 
Tripos Examination, which, as some maintained, 
represented only a liberal education in mathematics 
and not a special one. As, however, the main in- 
terest at Cambridge was fastened on the Tripos, 
there appeared to be no other way of drawing atten- 
tion to those subjects than by admitting them into 
it. On the other hand, it was plain that the course 
would be so much extended by the admission 
of these new subjects, that no student could pos- 
sibly master the whole in his three years and a 
quarter. After much discussion a scheme was 
put forth including the above-named branches of 
study, increasing the length of the Examination 
and allotting certain proportions of credit to the 
different subjects. It was hoped that students 
would be induced to select a limited course for 
thorough study. . Many persons of experience 
feared, with good grounds, that these hopes would 
prove vain, and that some students would do as 
they had done before, viz. attempt to learn scraps 
of the easier parts of nearly all the subjects. 
Much opposition was made to the Grace, but it 
was felt that if it were rejected the important 
subjects in question would for a long time be 



1 86 The Mathematical Tripos. 

excluded from University teaching, and that the 
University might be thought indifferent to the 
growing needs of science : it was also suggested 
that if the evils anticipated came about, they 
would soon be practically felt, and therefore would 
soon call for a remedy. 

This scheme came into operation in 1873, and 
has undergone no change up to the present time 
(1875). Prospects were held out that the Board 
of Mathematical Studies would issue a schedule 
curtailing some of the subjects, but this has not 
appeared. Such a schedule is urgently wanted ; 
that which was put forward In 1850 has passed 
out of mind, and it would only apply to a part of 
the present course. 

Our narrative of the History of the Tripos is 
now at an end. The principles which have come 
to light in the course of it may guide us in judging 
of the defects of the existing system, and of the 
direction in which we are to look for a remedy. 

The Examination now seems to contemplate 
a liberal education mixed up with a technically 
scientific one. We ought to have distinct Exami- 
nations corresponding to each kind. Many of the 
more abstruse subjects, as learned by the great 
mass of students, convey few new conceptions and 
merely load the memory. The value of these 



The Mathematical Tripos. 



subjects lies in the application of them, and this 
application few students ever make. The course 
is now so long that the mind of a student who 
would carry the whole into one Examination is 
injuriously distracted, and his general education is, 
in a degree, sacrificed to the training him for the 
struggle. So long as the subjects comprised in 
the Tripos were not too extensive to be mastered 
during the student's course, there was no need for 
a boy at school to be pushed far forward in mathe- 
matics. The race was to be run at Cambridge, 
and formerly few arrived there bringing with 
them enough mathematical knowledge to be of 
importance compared with what might be attained 
at the University ; but now when no one can 
possibly master all the subjects in the allotted 
time, it adds greatly to the weight of metal a 
candidate can bring to bear in the final contest, 
for him to have read before coming up what 
would otherwise occupy his first two years. In 
consequence we have in every year a dozen 
freshmen who might be high Senior Optimes at 
the end of their first Term, but who are some- 
times defective in other departments of educa- 
tion. A provision, indeed, is made in the University 
for testing the possession of the elements of a 
general education. This is called the Previous 



1 88 The Mathematical Tripos. 

Examination (Little-go), but as it does not bear 
on the great race in which the competitor is to 
win his prize, it is looked on as an interruption, 
which must be got over as soon as possible. If 
a boy at school shew mathematical talent, he is 
often withdrawn from part of his studies that he 
may be brought forward in that subject, by ex- 
celling in which he may gain glory for his school 
and advantages for himself in competitive Exami- 
nations. One side of his mind is thus early de- 
veloped disproportionately to the rest, while some 
regions of it are left uncultivated and may be- 
come less apt to receive cultivation. Strong and 
ofenial natures will take care of themselves when 
they get to the University. They will have spare 
energy enough to create for themselves counter- 
vailing interests in literature and society, or if their 
physique allow it in outdoor sports ; but with those 
of less general power and vivacity — especially if 
they are working with no love for their study, but 
are toiling prematurely as bread-winners by the 
sweating of their brains — the danger of unhealthy 
action of the nervous system from undue concen- 
tration is considerable, and such need to be watched 
over with intelligent care. 

The great extent of our course not only harms 
some of the individuals who are training for it, but 



The Mathematical Tripos. 189 

it will eventually thin our competitors, for it dis- 
courages all who are not already good mathema- 
ticians when they come to the University. It may 
be predicted that if the present state of things 
continues, the Mathematical Tripos will decline in 
numbers. When a young man of ambition looks 
round him on coming to the University, he will 
not choose a career in which he has no chance of 
high distinction ; and if he sees no prospect of this 
in the Mathematical Tripos on account of his 
having received a general education and not a 
special mathematical one, he will take to one of 
the Triposes which deal with subjects like Law, 
or Moral Science, where he starts fair and can 
cover the ground in the time allotted ; or else he 
will put off his coming and be so much the later 
in entering on the work of life. 

The remedy must be sought, as I have said, in 
distributing the subjects into two Examinations. 
It had been hoped that each student would make 
a selection for himself: this, as was foreseen, he 
does not usually do, and it must be done for him. 

Much advantage was found by dividing the 
Examination into parts to represent the Pass and 
Honour functions of the Examination. We must 
now make a further division, and this I think will 
be better done by dividing the subjects according 



igo The Mathematical Tripos, 

to the purposes for which they are studied, — 
whether for mental training or for scientific use — 
than according to the conceptions they involve. 
In place of the latter part of our present Tripos 
I would have two Examinations, one answering 
to our idea of a high liberal education in mathe- 
matics, and another framed to test the possession 
of advanced scientific knowledge, such as might be 
suited for persons whose intended course in life 
required them to be conversant with the higher 
branches of mathematical and physical science. 
The first list might be in order of merit as now, 
the second in classes with two brackets in each. 

I think that a division of subjects according to 
the end with a view to which they are studied, is 
the most convenient for our purpose, because the 
modes of reading and the appropriate kinds of 
Examination are different according as persons are 
studying for an Examination which is to testability 
or in order to get hold of the subject and to make 
use of it. It is one thine reading Law for Exami- 
nation, another reading Law for Practice. So it 
is with Science. A student reading the higher 
Dynamics, for instance, for Examination, has not 
half done his work when he has mastered the theory 
and can make the plain applications of it he would 
want for any practical purpose. In the Polytechnic 



The Mathematical Tripos. 19I 

Schools abroad he stops at this point; if he 
would shew superior comprehension he evinces this 
by drawing up essays or papers on particular 
points of the subject at leisure. He learns the 
subject because he wants to know it, but he does 
not require to have all the artifices which are 
effective for solving ingenious puzzles at his 
fingers' ends. The student who reads for a place 
in a class list has to learn, besides the subject itself, 
every possible application of it to problems, and 
must be familiar with those algebraical artifices 
which are essential for rapidly bringing out re- 
sults : in fact Examiners regard the subject, in 
a degree, as affording an educational exercise, and 
furnishing a criterion to measure ingenuity by, 
while the savaftt regards it as a branch of science 
of which he wants to be master. 

In the first of the two Examinations into which 
I propose to split that part of our present Exa- 
mination which follows the " first three days " (for 
in that of the " first three days" I would make no 
serious alteration), the subjects would continue to 
be treated educationally, but with some view to 
discrimination ; that is, much as they are at pre- 
5ent. In the second of these Examinations, which 
would be the third of the whole system (if we call 
that of the "first three days" the first part), the 



192 The Mathematical Tripos. 

highest subjects, with which alone it would deal, 
should be treated in a different spirit; they should 
be reo^arded as instruments which the learner 
wants to be able to handle for scientific use and 
for the prosecution of research. He should have 
his eyes turned toward experimental investigation, 
and should be taught to estimate nicely the nature 
and value of the evidence thus obtained. 

The Tripos system would then consist of three 
Examinations, the first and second of which would 
be combined as the two parts of our Examination 
now are, and the third, the higher scientific Exa- 
mination, would stand to the rest something in the 
same relation which that for the Smith's Prize now 
holds. The Smith's Prizes^ might be awarded by 
it, and the Professors might take part in it. I do 
not enter into the question of the times at which 
these Examinations should be held, because I am 
only sketching an outline of a plan. The subjects 
of the second Examination should be chosen for 
their educational value, including, for instance, all 
those now placed in the first division and a few 
others. These might be mastered by able students 
in three years. The majority of candidates would 
not proceed to the further scientific Examination. 

"^ These are two Prizes for proficiency in the higher Mathematics and 
Natural Philosophy, the Examination is conducted by the Professors of 
Mathematics and is held soon after the publication of the Tripos list. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 193 

The list in order of merit, drawn up from the 
combined result of the first and second Exa- 
minations, would furnish very nearly as good a 
criterion of general ability as the entire Exami- 
nation now affords. Certain College rewards, not 
excessive in value, might be awarded for distin- 
guished success in this portion of the Examination 
alone. Such success would indicate the posses- 
sion of many of the qualities which go to make 
valuable men ; it would shew a trained memory, a 
strong head, much readiness of expression and 
fertility of resource, but it would not shew the 
same amount of positive scientific attainment as a 
high place in the Tripos now does. 

The higher subjects which would be dealt with 
in the third Examination, may possibly in time 
become so extensive as to require to be grouped 
in two divisions. The candidates for these would 
be manageable in point of number, and therefore 
a viva voce Examination would be practicable^. 
The subjects also would be better suited to it 

^ Some of the advantages of a vivd voce Examination for the less ad- 
vanced candidates, might be obtained by giving out, viva voce, one by one, 
some plain questions on the principles of the elementary subjects and 
quite easy examples. Tiiese should not be published. The Examiners 
would not think it beneath them to give simple examples in this vi^ay, 
though they will not introduce into a paper that is to be published, ques- 
tions wh'ch do not shew neatness, and require ingenuity. In France when 
an example is appended to a theorem, it is a simple application. The 
L. T X 



194 ^^^ Mathematical Tripos. 

than the mathematics now commonly read. The 
principles of these, which alone afford scope for 
viva voce questions, occupy but a small space of 
the whole. In the higher subjects, however, the 
Examination might be to a certain degree prac- 
tical, and this part of it should be held in a 
laboratory. Candidates might then be called on 
to perform simple experiments, to point out the 
conditions required for accurate and trustworthy 
results, and to explain phenomena brought under 
their eyes. 

The class-list in this scientific Examination 
would not, I think, require to be arranged In order 
of merit. There might be two or three classes, and 
two brackets In each class. This would remove 
one of the objections to a viva voce Examination 
stated some pages back. The candidates might 
take very different courses of reading, so that the 
Examination would be imperfectly homogeneous, 
and therefore attempts at closer classification 
might prove fallacious ; while a place in the first 
class would be sufficient distinction to justify the 
colleo-es In awardino- emoluments to those who 
obtained it, and would mark out those who shewed 

"riders," with us, have become problems, and many students therefore con- 
fine their attention to the questions from books. It would assimilate the 
action to that of vivd voce, if negative marks could be given for errors 
in elementary principles, or for the declining to give an answer. 



The Mathematical Tripos. 195 

qualifications for the prosecution of scientific re- 
search or for high educational posts. 

Having traced the growth of our Tripos sys- 
tem to its present condition, I have thought it 
worth while to point out the nature of the further 
changes which I would suggest for consideration. 
They would present a development in accordance 
with the history. It would not suit my purpose 
or my limits to enter into detailed proposals for 
a University measure. Still less can I deal with 
the philosophical principles of mathematical edu- 
cation. Should a treatise on this subject be re- 
quired, a rich store of materials will be found in 
the Report of the French Commissioners to which 
I have referred, and also in the evidence on the 
Mathematical Tripos given in the Report of the 
Commissioners of 1852, much of which (that es- 
pecially of Professor Stokes and Mr Robert Leslie 
Ellis) is of the highest value, and contains material 
most deserving of being preserved in a more ac- 
cessible form, 

I have been struck as I proceeded, with the 
amount of deep thought and practical sense which 
has been brought to bear on the framing of our 
Examination, and I cannot too highly estimate the 
advantages which our system has derived from 
its operation having been always under the eyes 



196 The Mathematical Tripos. 

and under the control of an educational body, 
quick to observe the wants that made themselves 
felt and thoroughly honest in endeavouring to 
remedy the evils that became sensible from time 
to time. I should be glad for our existing stu- 
dents to feel their obligations to those, of whose 
foregone thought and care they are the inheritors. 

I have had to speak of the evils arising from 
the too great extent of our subjects at the pre- 
sent time. These evils, however, it must be 
recollected only affect a few students — perhaps a 
sixth part of the candidates for the Tripos. 
Those who have no hopes of the highest distinc- 
tion are free from this undue strain, and they 
sometimes gain more in proportion to their powers 
from their University residence than those who 
have a prospect of much greater success. 

My views of the action of the Examination on 
the whole are well expressed in a passage which 
I will quote from the evidence of Mr William 
Hopkins, who after making certain criticisms, con- 
cludes as follows :— 

"Let me not be thought, in making these remarks, to under- 
value the excellence of our present examinations and the in- 
fluence they exercise over our studies. The facility and 
accuracy with which our Students go through complicated 
processes of mathematical investigation, and the command 
they acquire over the ordinary artifices of analysis, are very 



The Mathematical Tripos. 197 

remarkable and very much facilitate their progress in any- 
higher mathematical researches to which they may afterwards 
apply themselves. There is also another consequence of our 
mode of examination, which, in considering our system of 
studies as one of mental discipline, can hardly be too highly 
appreciated. The necessity of giving brief and accurate 
answers to the questions proposed, superinduces the necessity 
also of a distinct and logical arrangement 'of the successive 
steps of a demonstration and the habitual use of condensed 
and accurate language. The tendency to careless and illogical 
habits of thought, existing in most undisciplined minds, finds 
in this system as perfect a correction as the individual cha- 
racter of the Student will admit of It has often been a matter 
of great interest with me to watch the gradual development of 
this exactness of thought and perspicuity of language. The 
young Student frequently commences his studies here with 
great defects in these respects; but where there has been 
sufficient intellectual power and activity, I have never failed to 
witness a rapid improvement, as the result of our system, from 
the moment he became sensible of his own deficiency, and 
(which is equally essential) that it could only be amended 
by his own persistent efforts, and not merely by the corrections 
which his Tutors might from time to time suggest to him. 
The perfect arrangement and style with which many of our 
higher Students answer the questions proposed to them consti- 
tutes one of most striking results of our system. I could wish 
to see the same power called forth more effectively on a larger 
scale, — in the exposition of the more general principles and 
results of mathematical science as well as in the development 
of its individual propositions'." 

^ ' ' Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners, appointed to inquire into 
the state of the University of Cambridge, 1852," p. 243. — Evidence of W. 
Hopkins, Esq., M.A. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FUNCTIONS OF EXAMINATIONS. SELECTION. 

It has been said that what is called scientific 
method consists in applying to abstruse matters 
the homely maxim of doing one thing or con- 
siderino^ one train of circumstances at a time. 
This remark is illustrated by the foregoing sketch 
of the History of the Mathematical Tripos at 
Cambridge. By degrees it was understood that 
Examinations fulfilled many different purposes, 
each of which might be best effected by some par- 
ticular mode of examining-. We mio-ht not want 
a separate Examination for each purpose, but we 
ought to know how each purpose might be effected 
and the relative importance we attach to it. 

Clearly, then, the first thing to be settled about 
any Examination scheme was, What was intended 
to be done by it ? The discussions that took 
place at Cambridge shew that the proposers of 
schemes were often by no means agreed on this 
primary point, and it was very much through 
these debates, and from people finding that they 



Xhe Ftmctions of Exaininatio7is. Selection. 199 

failed to understand one another because they 
were driving at different ends, that the com- 
plexity of the action of Examinations came to be 
perceived. 

Having cleared their minds as to what they 
wanted, the next point to be considered was 
to what degree, if at all, Examinations could effect 
what was required. The practical acquaintance 
which most residents in the University had with 
Examinations shewed them, that as means of 
selection these could only be relied upon to de- 
tect particular qualities, and that even for them 
it was very important to know under what cir- 
cumstances the knowledge had been acquired. 
The efficacy of Examinations as a means of call- 
ing out the interest of a pupil and directing it 
into the desired channels was soon recognised 
by teachers. They were supposed to furnish a 
stimulus or motive power which could be applied 
to produce any required kind of mental cultiva- 
tion : but as the Examination itself is not the mo- 
tive to study, but only the mechanism whereby 
the efficient motive for learning — whatever it may 
be, the desire of gain, or distinction, or knowledge 
for Its own sake — is embodied In a form in which 
it can be readily brought to bear on the pupil, this 
motive power is not got without something that 



200 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

is expended to obtain it. Some advantage must 
be in prospect The Examination is the engine, 
not the fuel, and will only act as long as there 
are prizes or honours to be awarded. In the case, 
Indeed, of one who can work for an Examination 
merely to satisfy himself that he is acquainted 
with a subject, the fuel, so to say, is self-supplied. 

Finally came the question of what was the 
best way of using Examinations for the purpose 
we had in view. If we could answer this posi- 
tively and fully we should see our way to that 
scientific system of Examinations which Dean 
Merivale, in his evidence given to the Cambridge 
Commission, pointed out as the most promising 
solution of certain difficulties that beset the higher 
education. 

As yet, however, no step has been taken to- 
wards bringing the subject into that degree of 
order which it must attain before science can deal 
with It. In education, indeed, we may hope to 
see some scientific classification, of tendencies at 
any rate, though the deductions of theory will, 
owing to disturbing causes, often disagree with 
the facts. We may get some Ideas of the most 
advantageous mode of using examinations for 
forming the mental habits or testing the acquire- 
ments we want the pupil to possess ; but, as I 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 201 

said in the second Chapter, when we use Exami- 
nation for selection, the matter becomes compli- 
cated by many social and political considerations 
over and above the difficulties naturally attaching 
to it. 

No particular sort of Examination will produce 
one kind of effect or test one quality, and that alone, 
any more than any drug in the Materia Medica 
will produce one particular action on a particular 
organ, and no other whatever, on any part of the 
system. Hence we have ''intermixture of effects," 
and we cannot sort our agents according to what 
we want them for, and label each of them, like 
cakes of watercolour in a box; all we can do, after 
settling what qualities we are looking for, is to 
find out by what signs we may judge of their 
presence, what kind of Examination will best 
bring them out, and then, what indirect effects this 
kind of Examination will have on education. 

For though, to give some kind of order 
to our inquiry, I shall continue, as hitherto, to 
consider separately Examinations as employed 
to effect selection and to direct education, yet we 
must bear in mind that this distinction is only 
acttcally true when we regard the purpose in 
the minds of those who draw up the schemes, 
and that as soon as an Examination comes into 



2 02 The Functions of Exammations. Selection. 

operation, the two kinds of action must neces- 
sarily take place together. There must be dis- 
crimination, or something equivalent, because the 
candidates must aim at sziccess in the Examina- 
tion ; it has no effect if they do not, and by suc- 
cess they mean either proving their superiority 
to others, or getting a warrant of proficiency: 
and, on the other hand, although the framers may 
have regarded the Examination only as a sieve to 
sort out the article they require, yet it must have 
an educational effect : for the dimensions of the 
interstices will be accurately measured by teach- 
ers and trainers, and an article will be produced 
which, at the least cost of brains and labour, will 
fulfil the conditions required. 

The importance of this last consideration is 
seen when we consider on what grounds the com- 
petitive system is most fully justified. When ap- 
plied to Government appointments it may have 
some convenience as a mode of avoiding jobbery 
and solicitation ; but, as is said in the second 
Chapter, unless it can be so carried out as to 
do more good than harm to education, we only 
eet one kind of mischief instead of another — and 
there is a large class of emoluments, such as 
Fellowships at Colleges, and Scholarships both at 
Colleo^es and Schools, whose raison d'etre is in 



The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selectio7t. 203 

great part to assist in promoting high cuhiva- 
tion. We ought to find in such improvement a 
return for the time, labour, and money expended 
in competition. I have shewn (page 67) that a 
high Hberal education will not generally be ob- 
tained by any but those who have means and lei- 
sure as well as an appreciation of learning, unless 
by means of endowments, as in England, or by the 
enforcing of a thorough School and University cur- 
riculum as a condition for entrance to any liberal 
profession or for holding the higher Government 
posts, as is the case in Prussia. The latter course 
is out of the question in England; our ideas of 
the liberty of the subject would be outraged by 
the State taking possession of the boy, and deny- 
ing to his parents their right of dealing with him 
in their own way. Hence, if we are to support a 
high general standard of liberal education, it must 
be done by making such education appear re- 
munerative, and the cheapest way of doing this is 
to turn to account the hopefulness of young people 
and their parents by holding out rewards to com- 
petition ; we hereby enlist qu our side the spirit of 
contest of the younger people and the sanguine ex- 
pectations which their elders entertain of them, 
and, as has been shewn, for one who gets a prize, 
forty may obtain a high education in aiming at it. 



204 The Fu?ictions of Examinations. Selection. 



In this view the effect on the learners is more 
important than the accuracy of selection. We 
have to do with the formation of the mental habits, 
and even the moral character of those who may 
be in positions of great importance connected 
either with the Governrnent or with the education 
of the country; and it is essential, not only that 
the knowledge should be genuine, but that it 
should be attained in a way which inculcates high 
views of the purposes of learning and a chivalrous 
feeling of honour. If we damage the general 
standard of truthfulness by leading young men to 
glory in having outwitted Examiners and seemed 
to be what they are not, by the dexterous use of 
a scrap of information, then we lose far more 
morally than we gain in any other way. 

When we set about selecting by means of 
Examinations the person who shall be most able 
or best educated, we at once become aware of 
how ill-defined our notions of ability and educa- 
tion are. A full analysis of these notions would 
fill a larger volume than I mean to write, and so 
I must limit myself to explaining what I mean 
by these terms, when it is necessary to do so, not 
with any pretence to philosophical precision or to 
completeness, but so as to establish an under- 
standing with the reader. 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 205 

We have then, now, before us the whole sub- 
ject of Examinations, so far as their testing func- 
tion is concerned. This gives us an unwieldy 
mass of matter to deal with, and we may be 
thankful for any mode of breaking it up into more 
manageable portions; we very soon come in sight 
of a distinction which will be of service to us in 
this respect. What Examinations elicit directly 
is always, either the knowledge of the candidate, 
as, for instance, an acquaintance with facts or the 
matter of certain books, or else it is the result 
of knowledge which has been assimilated, and 
out of which there springs a faculty, such as that 
of writing a foreign language, or of solving pro- 
blems. But we may regard this knowledge in 
two very different ways, — we may want it for 
itself, or for what it tells us about the man. It 
has more or less intrinsic value, and at the same 
time it shews us something of the powers of the 
man who ha.s acquired it. 

We may go to an Exhibition either to find a 
picture to our mind, or to pick out the artist 
who is most suited to execute some work for 
which we wish to give a commission. In these 
two cases we regard the pictures differently. In 
the first case the beauty of the subject of the 
picture will go far with us, in the second it is 



2o6 The FiLUctions of Examinations. Selection. 

unimportant. We may perhaps get more insight 
into the artist's powers from a spirited sketch 
than from a highly finished performance, and we 
shall especially pay attention to a picture eliciting 
the particular qualities wanted for the work we 
wish to get done. 

Examinations may in like manner be used in 
two ways. They serve as a criterion of the pos- 
session of particular kinds of knowledge or skill 
for those who have to employ this special know- 
ledge or skill for a particular purpose : but they 
may also be used to test ability of a more general 
kind. The capacity of the man may be shewn 
by the character of his work. One kind of work 
will test one quality, as taste or imagination ; an- 
other which involves patient labour, will shew in- 
dustry and self-denial. Hence we should choose 
our testing processes difterently according as we 
are on the look out for attainments or for ca- 
pacity, and scrutinize the results with a different 
eye, in the two cases. 

But thouorh we have here g-ot a serviceable 
distinction, it does not go very far ; after we have 
traced it a little way the branches become inter- 
twined and grow together. For knowledge helps 
to foster the development of matured ability. We 
may never mean to use the knowledge in display- 



The Functions of Exctminations. Selectio7t. 207 

ing which the candidate has shewn the abihty 
which recommends him to us, yet the possession 
of this may be a source of constant improvement 
to him. A man who has stored up a fund of 
knowledge has usually a greater copiousness of 
ideas— he has matter at hand from which to draw 
comparisons or illustrations — he has more sources 
of interest open to him, and therefore more of his 
faculties are kept bright from use. Hence, in 
framing an Examination to test ability, although 
we may in the first instance look to the qualities 
of the man, and direct our testing appliances 
to discover this, still if we look far forward, and 
wish to select the man whose career is likely 
to be the most serviceable, we must have an eye 
to the knowledge with which he has equipped 
himself before starting, not for its practical use, 
but as an inner help to future self-cultivation, — 
this is more necessary the more the nature of 
his future occupation will preclude general read- 
ing, when once he is engaged in his vocation — 
and it will apply more particularly to those 
subjects which necessitate. some drudgery at the 
outset, or which usually require a teacher, like 
languages or mathematics. A man who wishes to 
acquaint himself with History or English Litera- 
ture, or even Political Economy, has only to 



2o8 The Functions of Examinations . Selection. 

read the proper books ; this he may do in spare 
intervals, but a busy man is not likely to write 
exercises, or to familiarise himself with mathe- 
matical processes. The two Examinations for 
the Indian Civil Service afford good instances of 
Examinations held with views of discriminating 
ability and knowledge respectively. 

The proposed object of the first Examination 
by which the candidates are selected, is to choose 
the ablest young men out of a large body of 
candidates. The way in which they acquit them- 
selves in the different subjects which may possibly 
enter into a liberal education is taken as the 
criterion of ability. This plan, under the conditions 
of the case and as Examinations were then under- 
stood, seemed a good one. The defects that I 
have mentioned have arisen from the framers not 
foreseeing that an Examination backed by large 
prizes would call forth a special sort of teaching : 
perhaps, too, they overrated the sufficiency of a 
single Examination, unaided by an acquaintance 
with the way in which the candidates have been 
taught, for testing the possession of the desired 
qualities. 

They were quite right in having one Examina- 
tion to test ability, and another to ensure the 
possession of the knowledge required for pro- 



The Fun'ctions of Examinations. Selection. 209 



fessional use. In the first Examination they 
regard the candidate's performances in Classics, 
Mathematics, English and the rest of the sub- 
jects, with a view to judge of the man. He will 
probably rarely bring into actual use in his of- 
ficial life exactly what he has learned. He is 
not selected because the state wants to avail 
itself of these acquirements ; they are only taken 
as the index of certain qualities shewn in the 
acquisition of them. Hence in the examination 
for selection it may matter much how the can- 
didate s knowledge has been got. His German, 
for instance, may have been learnt analytically 
in England, much as a dead language is, and 
in this case a good knowledge will betoken 
accuracy and the power of grasping the principles 
of grammar — or it may have been learnt as a 
child in Germany, in which case it tells nothing 
of the man's powers, and is only of service in 
estimating the man, from the effect which any 
real knowledge has in improving its possessor; 
one who can turn to a German book as readily 
as to an English one, has, no doubt, access to 
writers who are particularly valuable in keeping- 
alive the process of self-culture. In the Further 
Examination the case is quite different, a know- 
ledge of Law and Indian Languages is required 
L. 14 



2IO The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

for the daily needs of the man's prospective 
career, and all that the Examiner has to ascertain 
is that he has the knowledge that is wanted ; 
this he esteems entirely for its intrinsic value. 
If the candidate knows Tamul well, it does not 
matter how or where he got it. A language 
learnt analytically may, it is true, be more firmly 
held in the memory than one learned by ear — 
the more laborious method may perhaps leave 
a more permanent impression on the cerebrum — 
and this consideration would have to be taken 
into account, because the durability of know- 
ledge is an element in its value ; but in the case 
before us, that of a language which is to be 
constantly used, there is little fear of its being 
forofotten. 

It is obvious that the results of an Exami- 
nation can be more thoroughly relied upon to 
test the possession of knowledge, or of a faculty 
engendered by the assimilation of knowledge, 
than to determine the ability of the man. The 
business of the Examiner in the first case is 
much more simple. He wishes to see if a can- 
didate possesses some accomplishment, and calls 
on him to give a specimen of his powers. If he 
profess to know a foreign language, he may be 
asked to speak, to write, and to translate ; if to 



The Functions of Exafninations. Selection. 211 



know the principles of Law, he. can be asked 
to state them and to apply them to some simple 
case; if he acquit himself with credit, then we 
may suppose that the bulk of his knowledge will 
answer to the sample, for the passages or cases 
put before him could not have been specially 
prepared. 
p But in estimating a man's mental power from 
the knowledge he displays, we ought to know 
how long he has taken to acquire it, his age, and 
the advantages that he has had. No doubt, what- 
ever be the subjects of Examination, unless the 
questions turn wholly on dry facts or mere termi- 
nology, the quality of a man's mind will be shewn 
by it in some degree ; first-rate ability will con- 
trive to peep out, and positive stupidity will stand 
self-convicted. But if the Examiner's object is 
only to ascertain what the candidate knows and 
not what he is, he will not set questions in order 
to see the play of his mind, or consider his 
answers with this view ; and an Examination so 
conducted cannot be trusted to indicate, with any 
nicety, different shades of ability. 

As I have said, in substance, before, the result 
that we get by passing the minds of candidates 
through the mill of Examinations, is a compound 
in which the elements of knowledge and ability 

14 — 2 



2 1 2 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

will always be both present, but mixed in very 
varying proportions — frequently, too, they will 
be so intimately combined that it is no easy 
matter to disengage them. A man's knowledge 
is an element of his prospective ability, and his 
ability will appear in the character of his know- 
ledge and his way of giving it out. But more 
delicate machinery and nicer handling may be 
wanted, in order to obtain the greatest pos- 
sible proportion of the more subtle of these 
two elements in the yield of our Examination- 
mill. 

It will be convenient to deal first with the most 
difficult case, because in considering this we shall 
be led to a rough analysis of some of the qualities 
which characterize the kinds of ability which the 
framers of Examinations mostly have in view, 
and this analysis will enable us to see our way 
better In what follows. To consider, then, one 
point at a time, we will take a hypothetical case. 
Let us suppose that out of a body of candidates 
we want to select those who have the greatest 
intellectual capacit)^, those who, to use an old 
phrase, are "of the most superior parts." 

Now we cannot lay bare the intellectual 
mechanism and judge of it by inspection, we can 
only infer the excellence of the Internal apparatus 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 213 

and the perfection of its workmanship from the 
quality of the work turned out : this work, in 
the case of young people, is represented by the 
knowledge they have attained and the powers 
they have acquired. We must form our estimate 
of the way in which it is probable that a young 
man will do the work of manhood by looking at 
the way in which he has already performed the 
proper work of youth. We should scrutinise 
therefore the character and amount of a young 
man's acquirements in this case, in order to see 
what light they throw on his mental constitution 
and calibre. 

The case is like judging of the works of a 
watch by its accuracy in keeping time, or of 
the machinery of a mill by the texture and 
smoothness of the cloth produced. We do not 
want in this case to set a value on the fabric 
itself. It depends very much on the quality of 
the cotton, and, besides, we are not thinking of 
buying the cloth, but the mill : so here, we are 
seeking not what the youth knows, but what he is. 
We are going to use him not as an expert, but 
as a man. 

To carry on our metaphor a little further. 
The machinery of this mill will not go of itself. 
We must have steam-power or water-power at 



2 1 4 The Functions of Examinations, Selection. 

hand to drive It; this consideration affects the 
value. So in the case before us, we want to 
know, not only whether the intellectual apparatus 
is good, but what force there is to work it. 
In human beings this force is the will. We may 
find an admirable intellect which either lapses 
into torpor, from the absence of moving power, 
or consumes itself to no purpose in ill-regulated 
or spasmodic action. Hence it is important for 
our object to find out all we can about the 
volition and energy of the minds that come under 
review. We can trace these qualities in some 
small degree in combination with others, but the 
data furnished by Examinations for judging about 
them are confessedly insufficient, and we can 
only give our conclusions as approximations. We 
may say that a man must have employed certain 
faculties with diligence and resolution for a 
certain time to learn what he has done, but we 
cannot say whether this industry came from his 
own strength of character or whether It was due 
to the absence of temptation, the stimulus of an 
object eagerly coveted and a contest close at 
hand ; or, what is possible, whether the apparatus 
in his case was really worked not by his own 
energy and volition, but by those of his tutor 
transfused into him. In order to determine this, 



The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selectioji. 215 

and therefore to augur confidently how he will 
turn out, we must know the circumstances of his 
education. In actual life private employers, or 
head-masters of schools, contrive to get good 
information on these points; but in our hypo- 
thetical case we are supposed to be investigating 
the question, "How far we may judge of 
ability by Examinations alone." I may say, 
however, in passing, that if papers containing 
well-drawn queries as to the energy of a pupil, 
his self-command and his power of influ- 
encing others — all which qualities peep out at 
School and College — were sent to the tutors or 
masters of candidates, information would be 
obtained which would be worth having. Practical 
persons could soon tell to what answers they 
might attach credit. 

Our hypothetical case may not answer exactly 
to anything we find in practice — the suppositions 
which we make to enable us to contemplate one 
kind of action by itself will, in most kinds of science, 
in Dynamics for instance or Political Economy, 
lead us away from the actual existing state of 
things — but we find many Examinations, in which 
the determination of the relative ability of the com- 
petitors apart from that of their knowledge, is dis- 
tinctly contemplated. We hear it said of particular 



2i6 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

Examinations that they do or do not "bring out 
the cleverest man," and in certain Fellowship 
Examinations the avowed object is, not to reward 
proficiency, but to pick out the man who, from 
his mental calibre, is most likely to "do credit to 
the College" by making a figure in life. 

And now we come to the question, "What do 
we mean by ability?" and here we seem to have 
opened up a wide question of mental science, 
but happily our range is limited by these two 
considerations : — first, we need only concern our- 
selves with those kinds of ability which the 
framers of Examinations have in view; and, 
secondly, we have only to consider the qualities 
which can be brought under review by an 
Examination. 

The varieties of human ability which Exami- 
nations are employed to discover and to measure 
gather into two groups; of one group we may 
take the man of science, of the other the man of 
action, as the type. The strength of the one lies in 
dealing with general ideas or abstractions, while 
that of the other turns not only on his grasp of 
the principles he has to apply, but also on his 
comprehension of the nature of the persons on 
whom or with whom he has to act. We need not 
analyse all the qualities which go to make the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 217 

ideal philosopher or statesman, though we must 
understand how our ignorance about the rest 
invalidates our results. We need only treat par- 
ticularly now of those which an Examination can 
be made to disclose. Many qualities which go 
to constitute what is commonly called genius, 
act irregularly, and cannot be called into opera- 
tion by the will when required, and so cannot 
be tested with certainty in an Examination. A 
man can no more display genius on demand than 
make a joke when told to do so. We could 
not call on persons to write poems in an Exami- 
nation room : if we did, we should get a quantity 
of very fair verse, but the man who wrote the 
best would probably be as far as any one from 
all possibility of becoming a poet. Originality, 
and what is called brilliancy, will usually gleam 
out now and then, if the Examination be long 
enough, but if it consist only of a paper or two 
it may happen that no sparkle shews itself, or, 
owing to some happy opportunity, we may meet 
with a brilliant display. Here, as in many other 
cases, we see the superior testing power of an 
Examination which extends over a considerable 
time. 

Neither have we to look for an insight into 
human nature or for the wisdom of matured judg- 



2 1 8 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

ment, or the tolerant and appreciative spirit of 
the man who has gone thoughtfully through life, 
wishing to find " a soul of goodness in things 
evil." These are qualities which do not belong 
to the time of life of those who come under 
examination : and even if they did, I do not see 
how we could detect them by an Examination. 
The attempt to do so would cause them to be 
simulated, and would thereby perplex the Exa- 
miner, and do much mischief as regards education. 

What I propose then to do is this : — I shall 
glance over those mental qualities which more 
or less come under our cognisance in Examina- 
tions, and which go to the making of • some of 
those kinds of ability which Examinations are 
framed to detect. Then we must cast our eye 
over that large area which Examinations cannot 
explore, and we shall then be in a position to 
judge how far we may trust the verdict of an 
Examination. We shall find that both as to 
ability and knowledge, more particularly the latter, 
Examinations will furnish much information which 
cannot be got in any other way. 

Further, the gauging of ability is a much more 
delicate matter than the weighing of knowledge, 
and it can only be entrusted to an Examiner of 
special skill. He must be able to recognise the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 219 

qualities which are disclosed by the performances 
of a candidate, and he should follow the workings 
of his mind as if he were part of himself. Such 
Examiners cannot be readily found, though there 
are plenty who can judge of acquirements ; this 
puts a practical difficulty in the way of the selec- 
tion of persons, on a large scale, on the score of 
ability. It increases this difficulty if the public 
insist on having a list of numerical marks as a 
guarantee of fairness. There are some subjects 
in which, if a paper be marked question by ques- 
tion, the scores of the different candidates may ill 
represent their different powers ; but such a plan 
gives a security that each answer has been care- 
fully considered and excludes the possibility of 
favour. Hence to deal with a number of can- 
didates and to satisfy the public, a system like 
that of the Indian Civil Service Examination, 
which awards its distinctions by the aggregate of 
producible attainments, has great practical conve- 
nience. As a criterion of ability this gives but a 
rough approximation; but then no very nice dis- 
crimination is required, because so many candi- 
dates are selected at once, that the action, as will 
be shewn hereafter, is not very different from that 
of a Pass Examination with a standard of about 
1200 marks. Of the educational effects of this 



2 20 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

Examination I have said something, and shall 
have to say more. 

The kinds of ability with which we are con- 
cerned are made up partly of natural gifts in 
the way of mental powers, and partly of habits 
of mind which have been formed, either by the 
strong will and self-watchfulness of the indi- 
vidual, or by the influences brought to bear on 
him in his youth. The general calibre of the 
mind will also be influenced by the mental diet 
and exercise, that is to say, by the supply of 
valuable matter to enrich the mind, and by in- 
ducements to exert it in a well-regulated manner. 

The formation of mental habits, as has been 
said in a previous chapter, is more important 
than the imparting of knowledge, and In estimat- 
ing ability we must pay regard to these habits 
of mind, both for their intrinsic value, and be- 
cause, since the individual must in a great degree 
have formed them for himself, they speak well 
for his volitional power and his sound judgment 
in self-education. 

This word volitional brings us to the consider- 
ation of two distinct modes of action of the men- 
tal powers, which are called by Dr Carpenter 
in his excellent work on Mental Physiology, 
volitional and automatic. For a full account of 



The Fttndions of Examinations. Selectio7i. 221 

the nature of these modes of action, the reader is 
referred to the chapters on Attention, Memory, 
Will, and Imagination in that work. The mean- 
ing of the words may be made sufficiently plain 
for the understanding of what follows by a simple 
illustration. 

We will take the case of attention, which is 
explained to be a condition of active recipiency of 
the mind, as opposed to that of passive recipiency 
in which it receives impressions without giving 
heed to them. A. person walking through a street 
is sufficiently aware of the objects which come in 
his way to prevent his running against them, but 
he may not pay any attention to them at all. If 
something in a shop-window strikes him and he 
notes it as he passes, this is automatic action of 
the attention; if the object recall circumstances 
connected with some past event, we have auto- 
matic action of the memory. What is thus re- 
membered may lead to a further train of recollec- 
tion. This action is still automatic. But if the 
person wish to call at a house with a certain 
number, his attention is volitionally directed to 
the numbers on the houses, and if he recall to 
mind the message that he meant to deliver, this 
is a volitional exercise of memory. So when a 
passage in a poem brings a vivid picture before 



222 The Functions of Examinatiojis. Selection. 

the mind's eye, this action of imagination is auto- 
matic, but when by dwehing on the part assigned 
to a character in a play of Shakespeare we try to 
form a conception of the sort of mind or person 
which Shakespeare had in view; or when from the 
traces on certain planes we set ourselves to con- 
ceive the form of a geometrical surface in space, 
this is an exercise of volitional imagination. 

The faculty which above all others claims our 
attention is Memory. All our knowledge, all that 
is got from books, and much that is learned from 
life, is trusted to her for safe keeping. There is 
no Examination in which her fidelity is not tried, 
and there are many which try nothing else, — 
except, of course, the power of expression. Me- 
mory, pure and simple, as philosophers tell us, 
is the reproduction of some past state of mind, 
and the recognition of the reproduced state as 
an old acquaintance : but we meet with it most 
often in combination with other qualities, and 
some combinations occur so commonly, and are 
so constant in their characteristics, that they may 
be treated of as being faculties of themselves. I 
shall mention some kinds with which we have to 
do: (i) what I will call the Portative Memory, 
which simply conveys matter, and whose only 
aim, like that of a carrier, Is to deliver the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 223 

parcel as it was received : (2) the Analytical 
Memory, which is exercised when the mind fur- 
nishes a view of its own, and thereby holds 
together a set of impressions selected out of a 
mass. Thus a barrister strings together the ma- 
terial facts of his case, and a lecturer those of his 
science, by regarding their bearing on what he 
wants to establish: (3) the Assimilative Memory, 
which absorbs the matter into the system, so that 
the knowledge assimilated becomes part of the 
person's own self, like that of his name, or of a 
familiar language. Further, I may name a va- 
riety less important as regards Examination — 
the Index Memory, that which does not recol- 
lect the matter itself, but only where to find it ; 
an instance as seen in the lawyer, who does not 
pretend to carry the law on every point in his 
head, but who can readily refer to the case in 
which it is laid down. 

Memory, in the words of Dr Carpenter, " grows 
to" the circumstances in which she finds herself 
in a very remarkable way ; this case of the lawyer 
is one illustration. People develop the kind of 
memory they want; the idle school-boy gets the 
power of learning a short lesson in a few minutes, 
which he forgets as soon as it is said; the savant 
readily acquires languages or sciences, but does 



2 24 The Ficnctions of Exatninations. Selection. 

not always recollect a commission in the matters of 
daily life; while a servant, who "has a head," but 
who cannot write down a memorandum, will re- 
collect the directions given him on a number of 
points. 

Memory may tell us of the existence of a 
power beyond herself, for remembrance implies 
foregone attention, and if this attention have been 
volitionally exercised, as it is in application to 
study, memory is an evidence of the possession 
of some power of will. The power of attention 
is sometimes very defective, and the want of it is 
a presumptive sign of feeble intelligence or small 
brain power. It is this deficiency far more than 
idleness, or mere backwardness from want of 
teaching, that causes failures in pass Examina- 
tions. Most commonly the weakness is only a 
want of volitional attention ; the power of atten- 
tion exists, but acts automatically; it is drawn off 
by any incident or any suggested idea, and the 
individual has no power of applying his mind. 
He is, to use Dr Carpenter's expression, "bird- 
witted." 

In speaking of the different varieties of me- 
mory it must be understood that I distinguish 
them according to the functions that we find per- 
formed, and that I am not dealing with the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 225 

matter psychologically. These functions are dis- 
played in Examinations, and are well marked and 
important. 

The Portative Memory is shewn in the repro- 
duction of what has been learnt, and from a 
display of it we see that the pupil has been able 
to set himself to work for a certain time with con- 
siderable activity. This shews some power of 
volitional attention, and in the Examinations of 
boys, and of young men who only aim at " quali- 
fying," some regard must be paid to it, because it 
is nearly the only mental quality which we can 
look for. Subjects which turn on a reproduction of 
the contents of books, such as Literature and the 
outlines of History and Geography, as learned 
from Manuals, as well as the rudiments of Natural 
Science, which often consist very largely of nomen- 
clature, are, nine parts out of ten, mere exercises of 
Portative Memory. If a youth be well taught, he 
may get, even from such rudiments, some general 
views which will remain by him ; but there are in 
most "pass" papers enough questions, which only 
require this kind of memory, to enable a candidate 
to scrape through ; and those who are not am- 
bitious, being aware of this, will do nothing more 
than make sure of such questions. They will 
train their memory to carry a small amount of 
L. 15 



2 26 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

matter for the necessary time, whatever that may- 
be. For instance, the translation of a Greek 
book must be held in the head for weeks and 
months, because only a little can be learned every 
day, while dates and facts and brief outlines are 
"got up" within the last twenty-four hours. Hence 
v/e may often flatter ourselves that we are ex- 
amining students in all those branches of know- 
ledge "without which no gentleman's education is 
complete," but what we really test is only this 
carrying power under various shapes : the matter 
that is carried soon disappears. 

I am now concerned with the higher Exami- 
nations, and refer to the lower ones only as illus- 
trations; we may often learn from them some- 
thing that shews us clearly some general mode in 
which Examinations act. There are but a few 
subjects in which this Portative Memory does not 
come into play necessarily to a great extent, and 
very often to a greater degree than it is supposed 
to do or should do. The Examiner assigns no 
credit to it in Competitive Examinations, but, in- 
directly, it must bring its possessor an ample re- 
turn. Its effect is at its minimum in those parts 
of Mathematics which consist largely of examples, 
in composition in foreign languages, and In trans- 
lation where the books are not specified. Hence 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 227 

the value of these subjects to the Examiner ; in 
them he sees exercised an acquired power as well 
as knowledge, and he need not be on the watch 
to detect what is merely remembered and not 
understood, as he is when concerned with the 
subjects which impart only information. A pupil 
may be made to learn facts, summaries, and 
general reflections, by the mere exercise of the 
Portative Memory. This is the faculty which 
renders what is called "cram" possible ; indeed, 
the most intelligible meaning of this term is, that 
it is the process by which memory is made to 
simulate the fruit of other mental functions ; the 
sound teacher tries to prevent the pupil from 
saving himself thinking by availing himself of his 
memory, and most tutors will rather teach a 
pupil than "cram" him; but when time is limited 
and success all-important, there is no resource but 
to trust to memory. Certain subjects and classes 
of questions throw students upon their memories, 
and drive tutors to provide formulated answers, 
more than others, and this should be carefully 
borne in mind in framing Examinations. 

Mr Todhunter' points out the mischief in this 
respect of demonstrations requiring proofs that are 
artificial, that is, which would not be suggested by 

1 Conflict of Studies. Macmillan and Co. 1873. 

15 — 2 



2 28 The Fimdions of Examinations. Selection. 



the general views and methods belonging to the 
subject ; and questions which call on very young 
men for the comparison of philosophical views, 
or for the judgment of ripe manhood — questions 
which belong rather to the Examiner's own time j 
of life than that of the candidates — have this evil ■ 
tendency. The Bishop of Salisbury remarks 
wisely, in his evidence to the Oxford commission, 
on the mischief which may arise from dealing with 
youth as if they had passed through years of 
thought. One man in a hundred may be set 
thinking, the rest urge their tutors to give them 
their thoughts ready for production. This process 
is quite as injurious to the tutor himself as it is to 
the pupil, and the effect on the tutor should be 
at least equally considered. It is a sad thing to 
o-ive able young teachers low views of learning ; 
and one who has long done the work of " cram- 
ming" comes to have no more belief in the edu- 
cation got from books, especially with a view to 
Examinations, than the old statesman had in the 
truth of history. 

Thus, in testing ability, an Examiner aims at 
reducine the effect of this kind of memory. In 
Mathematics, for instance, he would avoid asking 
for long burdensome demonstrations, and if for 
educational purposes he did ask them, — and we 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 229 

shall see that there is an evil in omitting such 
altogether, — he would attach little credit to them 
in selecting his candidates. This, it is true, can 
only be fairly done where the candidates have not 
been led to expect consideration for such answers. 
But there is a deeper ground for mistrusting a 
glib memory than that it gives a facility in "cram- 
ming". An experienced Examiner can often de- 
tect " cram," and will not be far misled in dis- 
criminating between what is the pupil's own and 
what is his tutor's. " Cram" betrays itself in 
abrupt changes of style, and if several candidates 
have been prepared by one teacher, the Examiner 
may have his eyes opened by finding that the 
same striking phrase or illustration has apparently 
occurred to many candidates at the same moment. 
But the ready mechanical memory of a youth, 
besides enabling him to mislead unpractised Ex- 
aminers, makes him deceive himself. Teachers find 
that a very ready memory is a bad educator ; it 
stunts the growth of other mental powers by 
doing their work for them. A youth who can re- 
collect without trouble, will, as it were, mask the 
difficulty in his classical author or his mathematics, 
by learning by rote what stands in his translation 
or text-book, and march forward without more 
ado. Thus a quick memory involves a tempta- 



230 The Fimctioiis of Examinations. Selection. 

tion which may enervate Its possessor by suffer- 
ing him to evade a difficulty instead of bracing 
himself to encounter it in front. 

An Examiner may detect this superficial sharp- 
ness by various symptoms. The man of mere 
memory keeps close to the words of his text-book, 
he shews what may be called the timidity of im- 
perfect comprehension, like that theological can- 
didate who dared not swerve a letter from the 
formularies of the Church, lest he should fall into 
a terrible heresy. Occasionally too there will be 
a slip in some word which shews that the student 
has taken down notes orally, and not understood 
them, or he translates from a reading not printed 
in the paper, and generally, he confines himself 
to those questions which can be answered by 
memory, or he makes a comparatively poor show 
in the others if he ventures on them. 

The Analytical Memory differs from that just 
spoken of in this respect : whereas the Portative 
Memory supplies the connexion or succession of 
notions, by the help of a jingle of words on the ear, 
or by the position of paragraphs, or by some such 
aid which does not require any mental action, the 
Analytical Memory binds together the materials by 
weaving them into a structure, of which the mind 
has supplied the conception, or furnished some con- , 



The Functions of ExaTfiinations. Selection. 231 

necting view which holds together the matter Hke 
beads on a string. For this there Is need of 
imagination to conceive the view, and comparison 
to determine the relative importance of the Items 
and subordinate some of them to others. In Ex- 
aminations in "set subjects" this is one of the 
faculties which we want to see exercised. It 
Is that by which a lawyer ''gets up" his- case, or 
a lecturer his dissertation ; he has supplied the 
view which enables him to comprehend the facts 
or the phenomena In one glance, and thus to print 
the impression on his mind. The memory in this 
case must be thoroughly under command. It obeys 
the slightest intimation of the will as to what it 
should record, and it Is In consequence an indica- 
tion of a disciplined and vigorous mind. 

A schoolboy carries into an Examination the 
order of the kings of England, the dates of their 
accession, and the principal events of each rei^n, 
purely by help of the Portative Memory, as he 
would learn the parts of a Latin verb. When a 
student of History writes "a brief account of the 
foreign policy of England under Oliver Cromwell" 
he Is exercising his Analytical Memory; but when 
a portion of History has become assimilated in 
his mind, he can sit down and sketch an outline of 
It straight off, only requiring to refer to authorities 



232 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

for names, dates, and details, which, if his Index 
Memory be also cultivated, he can put his finger 
on in a moment. In the same way a student who m 
has thoroughly mastered Mechanics could write 
out a treatise on Elementary Dynamics without 
leaving his place in the Examination room. He 
would not have to "look over" this subject for 
Examination. • 

There are fatal objections to the introduction 
of "set subjects" into those competitive Examina- 
tions which are intended to give no advantage 
to particular places of teaching. It would inter- 
fere with school-work if particular subjects were 
prescribed. It is the great difficulty of the Indian 
Civil Service Examination, which is meant to 
afford quite an open field, that the English 
History and Literature and the rudiments of cer- 
tain sciences act in the same way as set subjects ; 
they represent acquaintance with manuals. The 
consequence is, that a particular kind of teaching 
is rendered advantageous; success depends much 
on the judicious selection of the subjects, and the 
teacher, rather than the pupil, is in fact the person 
under Examination. 

In order to defeat "cramming," it has been 
proposed that all competitive Examinations should 
turn entirely on the exercise of powers arising 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 233 

from what has been stored by the Assimilative 
Memory; for instance, on the writing or translating 
of foreign languages, or on the application of 
those sciences which admit of the principles 
being applied to examples. But this would in- 
troduce an educational evil ; a generation would 
arise destitute of common information ; they would 
cultivate these powers and neglect everything 
else, so that they would have but a scanty store 
of mental food to nourish their minds in the 
busy time of life when they cannot spare the 
time or energy for taking up a study. The 
best approximation to a solution of this di- 
lemma will be found in making use of educational 
Examinations, not only those at the Universities, 
but also those carried on in the Schools and at 
various Local Centres and others that may be 
devised, as a means of making a first selection, 
to act in fact as sifters. In preparing for these, 
the student, being under authority, could be taught 
what was best for him. He might be examined 
in the information he had gained a little at a time 
through a long period — that so got lasts longest, 
and the capabilities he might be acquiring could 
be tested at the- same time. Those who did well 
in these sifting Examinations, and those only, 
should be admitted to a further competitive 



2 34 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

Examination in a few of those subjects which 
endow the learner with a power of doing some- 
thing, and are therefore suitable for our purpose. 
I mention this briefly now, as being one reason 
for considering rather particularly how far an 
Examination comprising " set subjects " may give 
grounds for judging of the ability of candidates. 
Such subjects must enter into School Examina- 
tions, and we want to find how far we may trust 
such Examinations for making a rough selection. 
But apart from consideration of Government 
competitions, it is desirable to see how the intro- 
duction of specified books into an Examination 
affects its efficiency as a means of discovering the 
ablest men. 

The case is best understood by taking an in- 
stance. Let us suppose that the Trilogy of ^s- 
chylus is the subject of study and forms part 
of an Examination. This may be made the 
nucleus of a vast amount of illustrative matter. 
It will bring under consideration the ethics and 
mythology of the time, the nature of dramatic 
poetry and its modern development, as well as 
much that is suggested by the form and matter of 
the plays themselves. There is a vast amount 
of matter that may be made to illustrate the 
subject. A work like this treated exhaustively, 



The Fttnctions of Examinations. Selection. 235 

like the model book of Jacotot-^, affords us a 
glimpse of what that writer was driving at when 
he said, " Tout est dans tout!' The man who is 
possessed by a great subject finds everywhere 
something that he can bring to bear on it. 
Illustrative matter clusters round the dominant 
idea, like straws round a floating mass. Here 
we have volitional imagination warmed to catch 
impressions to which the duller mind is dead, 
and this faculty of seizing on and appropriating, 
in all that comes under view, those elements 
which may be made to bear on what we are 
about, is a marked concomitant of ability. 

Some no doubt will speak of such a given 
book as a "cram" subject, by which they mean 
that he who does best in it, owes his success, 
not to assimilated knowledge of the language, 
but to a power " of getting up." Learners have 
a keen perception of the difference of these pro- 
cesses, and are apt to think that this "getting 
up" is a mere matter of time and toil. This is 
not so. The power of so mastering a mass of mat- 
ter as to reproduce it with all its delicacy of detail 
shews a distinct quality of considerable value. 
The man who dashes off a spirited and fairly 

^ See Essays on Edticational Reformers, by R. H. Quick. Longmans 
Green and Co. An excellent book. 



236 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

correct translation, and writes showy composition 
with much ease, may be utterly unable to deal 
with a quantity of matter in the thorough way 
that I have in view. One man has the power 
of grasping a subject in its entirety, he has a 
large mental field of view. The other sees but 
a bit at a time. Further, to attain high ex- 
cellence in these set subjects a person must have 
the power of duly subordinating details so as 
to leave his main lines strongly marked, and 
a faculty of finding the idea which shall put form 
and order into the mass, as the statuary sees the 
figure in the marble block. 

So far as the ideal pupil Is concerned, there 
is here no "cram" at all In a derogatory sense; he 
may have to carry some dates and names and 
details into the Examination; they are indeed 
retained by the Portative Memory for the time, and 
may therefore be called "cram," but these go for 
little in the value of his performance. These 
little matters have merely passed through his 
hands as It were, but a great deal of wisdom 
has been stored and accumulated, and forms part 
of his mental capital for evermore. What Is 
valuable has been in fact assimilated. But the 
disparagement of such subjects is not hard to 
account for. Some of those who disparage them 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 237 

are quite right in feeling that if they got the 
subject up it would be "cram", and this leads 
us to mark the specific action of such a paper. 
Excellence shews much ability, mediocrity very 
little, while a display of mere scraps of informa- 
tion has no value for our purpose, and in se- 
lecting candidates on the ground of ability it 
ought not to weigh against the display of any 
power. Upon passing in order down the list of 
those who might have attempted our supposed 
paper, a change would be found not only in the 
degree, but in the kind of merit. This is not 
sufficiently taken account of in any received sys- 
tem of marking; some convenient formula is 
wanted for giving greater weight to excellence. 
It will roughly answer to give marks in the 
ordinary way and then square them^ If what 
is produced has not to be weighed against other 
kinds of knowledge, there is no need of numerical 
marking except as a record of impression, and 
the case is simplified. The question of different 
modes of marking will be treated of when we 
come to the mechanism of Examinations. 

^ For instance, 10 marks might be given to a paper: then full marks 
would, after squaring, be set down as 400 and half marks only as 100. This 
would fairly represent the ratio of ability. If we want to reward know- 
ledge and diligence the case is different. Fractional marks might be 
avoided by using one place of decimals. 



238 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

Given books may, then, be made effective for 
the purpose of discrimination, if we are content 
with selecting a few candidates out of many, and 
if, therefore, we need only take account of high 
excellence. If all the candidates have had the 
same sort of teaching within their reach, so that 
the difference between them is not likely to result 
from difference of opportunities, one source of 
complexity is removed. ' The number of such 
subjects in an Examination should be very limited, 
or the student will be distracted, which is in- 
jurious in an educational point of view, and 
the Examiner will survey his candidates when 
they have their minds burdened and jaded by a 
heavy load on their memory, whereas he wants to 
see them at their best and freshest. Students with 
all their possessions carried in their memories shew 
the same uneasiness that a man does with great 
treasures about his person. They are in constant 
fear of letting something drop. Besides, if more 
than two or three given subjects be carried at the 
same time into an Examination, ability may be 
overlaid by a many-sided mediocrity, especially if 
the common way of taking an aggregate of marks 
be retained. But a small number of such subjects, 
not over marked, will assist in bringing out a par- 
ticular kind of ability. Thus a School Examina- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 239 

tion, into which set subjects must necessarily 
enter, may be made to give trustworthy resuhs 
with regard to a few of the ablest boys so far 
as their ability is actually effective at the time. 
There will be many who do not ripen till they have 
left school, and these of course are passed over in 
any system of competition among youths. All 
such systems put a premium on early prodicce, of 
the effects of which I shall speak hereafter. 

The kind of knowledge, however, which fur- 
nishes the proper field for competitive Exa- 
mination is beyond doubt that which has been 
assimilated by a slow process, and becomes a 
permanent possession. This possession carries 
with it a skill or power which can be put in 
practice whenever it is called for. When a 
person is addressed in a foreign language with 
which he is acquainted, the words for reply come 
to him as easily as the proper motions do to a 
swimmer when he jumps into the water. But 
besides languages and science, the knowledge of 
facts may be assimilated, if it have been long enough 
present to the mind : the outlines of history, the 
general features of a map, and the fundamental 
facts and laws of a science often become so in- 
timately associated with the man's nature, that he 
can hardly imagine that he can forget them ; but 



240 The Finidions of Examinations. Selection. 

it is not every one who has this power of assimila- 
tion in any considerable degree. It seems to be 
connected with a habit of unconsciously reviewing 
the stock of ideas, and is found mostly in persons 
of a certain degree of mental power and activity. 

Many persons will forget in no very long time 
every word of a language which they have once 
spoken fluently, or of a matter with which they 
have been thoroughly conversant. Hence a good 
Assimilative Memory indicates vigour of brain, 
and also a power of steady application, for it 
does not yield its harvest in the way of a new 
practical capacity without long-continued culture. 
" Lightly come, lightly go," holds of learning as of 
other things, and what is rapidly learnt is rapidly 
lost, unless it be impressed on the mind in some 
unusually vivid way. A man cannot by working 
eight hours a day at Greek or Algebra get 
twice as much facility in dealing with them as if 
he worked four hours. Assimilation cannot be 
hurried ; the mind will only absorb at a certain rate. 
The amount of a dook which can be "got up" for 
production is much more nearly proportional to 
the time spent on it ; but such knowledge soon 
passes away, because it is not taken into the sys- 
tem. Dr Carpenter tells a story of an actor, who, 
having once had to learn a part in a hurry, for- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 241 

got ft altogether soon after he had played it, and 
had to learn it afresh afterwards whenever he had 
to act it, although the parts which he had studied 
at leisure remained always by him ready to be 
performed when wanted. These he had assimi- 
lated, the other he only carried. Dr Carpenter 
explains the necessity of time for the forming of 
permanent impressions on the brain, a point which 
is also spoken of by Dr Abercrombie^ and Sir 
Henry Holland 2. 

I must here recur to the distinction I have so 
often dwelt upon, between the studies which yield 
an " Art," or capacity of applying knowledge, 
and those which terminate in the information 
acquired, I shall mention some of the advan- 
tages possessed by the former class of acquire- 
ments considered as furnishing an arena for the 
exhibition of intellectual strength. One of these 
causes I have just mentioned ; it is that a capacity 
cannot be suddenly increased for the occasion — in 
other words, cannot be ''crammed" — and that 
knowledge can. A man's condition in respect of 
a capacity is more permanent than it is in respect 
of the knowledge of facts or of books, and the 
verdict of the Examiner which is based on it will 

^ On the Intellectual Powers. 
^ Chapter on Mental Physiology. 
L. 16 



242 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

therefore hold good for some time: whereas a 
youth may succeed or fail in a competition owing 
to the state of his knowledge of a manual of 
history, the contents of which he might acquire 
perfectly, or forget utterly in a fortnight. 

Again, since it takes time and steady work to 
acquire an "Art" the possession of it is a proof 
of industry and perseverance. We conclude, that 
the man can do good work, and, what is more, 
that he can go on working at the same thing 
till he has thoroughly mastered it. This is im- 
portant, for there are people whose minds have 
much activity but little power, and these begin 
many things, but are stopped when the drudgery 
and difficulties appear. We get a glimpse here 
of moral strength, a quality of high value, and so 
hard to ascertain directly by examinations that 
we must treasure up every hint they afford. 
A parent who intends his son for active life some- 
times values a University Honour more for the 
sustained energy and self-denial it takes to obtain 
it, than for anything else. 

Knowledge that is assimilated has also this 
advantage, that at the time of producing it the 
mind is not crushed by having to carry a load of 
matter, as in the case of the "got-up" subjects 
mentioned a few pages back : a man has his Latin 



The Fzmctions of Examinations. Selection. 243 

and Greek, for instance, always by him ; hence 
when he sits down to an Examination in those 
languages he has energy and vivacity to spare, 
and the Examiner sees him in his happiest con- 
dition, which it is his object always to do. Another 
valuable peculiarity for the Examiner of the class 
of subjects which result in a capacity is this — for 
most persons there is a terminal excellence as re- 
gards this capacity which is approached as a 
limit. For each individual a certain sattLration 
point may be marked in these studies, and by this 
we may fairly register certain kinds of ability. 
A schoolboy who is learning Greek, rises rapidly 
to a certain point, he then advances slowly, and 
at last stops. I was once told by a student 
who had been long occupied with classics, that 
latterly he had learned fresh words and books, 
but had not increased his hold of the lanoruao;e at 
all. In the same way, in sports, such as shooting, 
or playing cricket, there seems to be a limit of the 
skill which each individual can attain by practice. 
In Mathematics also the learner arrives at such 
a limit of skill in solving problems or in per- 
forming analytical operations. But in Mathe- 
matics as learnt for production in an Exami- 
nation there is also in most branches a certain 
amount of what is called " bookwork," and this is 

t6 — 2 



244 T^^^^ Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

of the character oi knowledge ; it can therefore be 
extended in quantity by the outla)^ of more pains 
and time ; but here also there will be a limit, for 
this ''bookwork" must be understood in order to 
be recollected, and the student is often stopped 
short by finding that as he advances, the subject 
involves conceptions or requires a tension of mind 
to which his powers are not equal. It is an old 
remark at Cambridge, that if a man who has got 
to the length of his tether were to present himself 
year after year for the Mathematical Tripos, he 
might perhaps rise a place or two at first but 
would soon become stationary and then sink. 
This would not be so true in subjects depending 
on wide reading, like Law or History, or some 
kinds of Natural Science. If we were forced to 
judge of a man's general ability by some single 
proof which could be produced in Examination, 
the degree of his Terminal Excelleiue in the 
skilled work of the branch of Learning he miglit 
select, would be as trustworthy a criterion as 
we could find. But the difificult point to ascer- 
tain is whether the excellence be terminal or still 
progressive, and to do this it will be necessary 
to know something of the mental history of the 
candidates. , Some indications may indeed be 
drawn from the style of their work, but con- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 245 

elusions obtained from such evidence cannot be 
trusted implicitly. 

By the exercise, then, of this Assimilative 
Memory, we obtain acquirements which can be 
produced in Examination when wanted, and 
which are not mere temporary adjuncts, but part 
and parcel of the man himself. Again, the more 
the candidate is master of the art which results 
from his learning, the less embarrassed is he by 
mechanical difficulties, and the fuller play can he 
give to his taste, his imagination and his desire 
to express his conceptions fully and accurately. 
The scholar who is not quite master of the lan- 
guage he deals with, or the mathematician who 
is not quite at home in the use of his analytical 
instruments, can no more fully bring out upon 
paper all that he sees in his author or all that 
is in his mind, than the statuary who is imperfectly 
skilled in usincr his chisel, can grive full effect to 
his conceptions. 

It is partly on this account, partly from the 
value which attaches to all first-rate work — both 
from its utility and the paucity of those who 
can do it — but most of all from the fact that the 
power of advancing to very high excellence shows 
various superior qualities of mind, that where it 
has been desired to select the ablest men by 



246 The F^inctions of Examinations. Selection. 

Examination, more weight has been given, as our 
experience has increased, to the mastery of some 
acquirement admitting of appHcation, and less to 
passive knowledge. It is then quite a canon of 
competitive Examinations that the best criterion of 
mental power is, to be able to do something— to 
perform some class of complex intellectual opera- 
tions — v/ith great perfection. 

Every college tutor knows the type of man 
who might obtain a low place in the second class 
for several sorts of Honours, but who would 
never rise to a first class degree in any one 
branch. Such a person may be very useful for 
many purposes, for teaching especially, but he 
will rarely prove to be a man of first-rate men- 
tal power. There is one sort of mind — that 
which is surcharged with native thoughts — which 
offers an exception to this remark. Moreover the 
special excellence may be too dearly bought : a 
youth may be so narrowly trained in order to be 
rendered a remarkable performer in some one way, 
as to suffer in general capability as well as in 
culture. This will be spoken of presently. 

One very marked difference between minds of 
different orders is seen in the susceptibility and 
the more delicate finish of the mental impressions 
of the superior sort. It is only fine intellects 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 247 
which are 

"Wax to receive and marble to retain." 

The difference I mean will be best understood by 
an illustration. Suppose that we have a beauti- 
fully engraved intaglio gem, of which we wish 
to get an impression ; if we use coarse sealing-wax 
and imperfectly melt it, the chief prominences and 
depressions will indeed appear on the seal, and 
the ordinary observer would say that the im- 
pression was quite sufficiently good ; not so the 
connoisseur. He sees that it has the form with- 
out the beauty and the life, it is, compared to 
what it should be, what copies of a Raphael 
painted to order are to the original, that is to say, 
like it in everything but the charm. But let us 
now take the finest wax specially prepared, and 
have it thoroughly and uniformly liquefied, then 
apply strong pressure, and the result is quite 
another thing. The most delicate tracings, the 
perfect form of every prominence and hollow, are 
now rendered with perfect accuracy in hard and 
glossy wax. 

This will help us to understand the difference 
in the degrees in which the ordinary man and one 
of singularly fine perception lay hold of the mean- 
ing of a pregnant passage in a great author, or of 
a subtle conception in science. 



248 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

One man will see all the force that is conveyed 
in an epithet or in the emphatic position of a par- 
ticular word ; he will catch the spirit of an author 
and the genius of a language ; he will not be 
satisfied until he has got hold of the exact mean- 
ing of every technical and scientific term, and 
marked the reason for every limitation in the 
enunciation of a theorem. At every step of an 
analytical investigation he will interpret the pro- 
cess and follow the train of geometrical or phy- 
sical conceptions to which the interpretation leads ; 
while the man of more blunt perceptions will be 
content with mastering the grammatical meaning, 
of his author, and with following the main course 
of a mathematical investigation or of a piece of 
o^eheral reasonino^. The imao-es formed in his 
mind's eye are like those seen in a telescope which 
is not accurately brought to focus ; and if the 
niceties which he has missed be pointed out to 
him, he is apt to think that his own notions were 
''near enough" to correctness, and that the mi- 
nuteness insisted on is over-refined. 

This delicacy of perception is well brought out 
by the higher kinds of Examination at present in 
use. A candidate, in order to convey his concep- 
tion, must be able to find language to express just 
what he wants to say; and thus we gauge his per- 



The Functio7is of Examinations. Selection. 249 

ceptive faculty in combination with the power of 
expression. This power generally accompanies 
vividness of conception, for when a bright and 
distinct image is formed on the mental retina, the 
right word will with a little practice follow the 
idea, if the mind be vigorous and fresh, just as 
the marksman's hand follows his eye. 

We now come to a power which I have al- 
ready spoken of in connexion with the analytical 
memory, that of seizing on the main features of 
a subject, and comprising the whole compass of a 
matter in a single view. This faculty indicates 
mass and robustness of mind, while that last 
spoken of shows sensibility and fineness of tex- 
ture. A strong mind having made sure of one or 
two principles, will not take his eye off the beacon 
before him ; the man who has great refinement 
and susceptibility rather than power of mind, 
sometimes gets bewildered by the multitude of 
side-lights that claim his attention. 

Connected with this power of intuitive ana- 
lysis is a quality which comes much under the 
teacher's notice. I will call it ranee of mental 
field of view. There are minds which will master 
a small quantity of matter well enough, but which 
are utterly overpowered when they have to deal 
with a considerable bulk. If they be examined 



250 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

chapter by chapter — in Mechanics, we will sup- 
pose, or in Political Economy — they will answer 
intelligently, and even work out results in par- 
ticular cases : but as they pass on, one set of 
notions drives the other out; a new slide has 
been put into the camera of their minds, and their 
view has "dissolved." When at the end of the 
course they are examined in the whole subject, 
they produce much less than was expected from 
them. Such a failure (supposing the pupil to be 
diligent) is a sign that the mental range is small. 
The mind may be a very fair one as far as it 
goes, but it is on a small scale. There is no 
room in it for laying one conception beside an- 
other, and so forming a complete map of a pro- 
vince of knowledge. All such a man's acquire- 
ments will be fragmentary. On the other hand, a 
man of a large mental field of view is not over- 
whelmed though the extent of a subject be great, 
provided it be tolerably homogeneous (a great 
diversity of subjects I hold to be very injurious) : 
with him it forms an organic whole, while with 
the others it is only a congeries of proposi- 
tions. He sees the whole confio-uration of the 
subject, and its various parts are bound together 
in his mind by a general conception. Hence it is 
obvious that frequent Examinations, each cover- 



The Functions of Examinations, Selection. 251 

ing a small portion only of ground, whatever their 
educational use may be, will fail to discriminate 
between different degrees of this sort of intellec- 
tual power ; for the extent of mental field of view 
cannot be tested in a small area. 

It is well known that a very feeble person may 
pass an Examination in a considerable amount of 
matter, if he be allowed to take a very small quan- 
tity at a time. The case then comes almost to 
that of the "repetition" of a schoolboy, who has 
trained his memory just to carry a week's work. 
The extent of this mental field of view varies 
very greatly In different persons, and from my 
experience I consider Its width of range to be 
a good approximate measure of general ability, 
while its dimensions may be pretty accuratel}- 
taken by a well-conducted Examination. 

Imagination has entered into many of the 
compound qualities which I have noticed. My 
business with them was not to analyse them, but 
to consider them as indications of ability cognisa- 
ble by Examination. I must now make some 
remarks on Imagination as a distinct Faculty. 

The term Imagination is variously defined by 
philosophical writers. . I here employ it in its 
most comprehensive sense, so as to embrace both 
the series of operations whereby it forms or com- 



252 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

bines conceptions, and also the power of readily 
evolving thoughts or expedients. 

There is more variation in different minds 
in point of Imagination than in almost any other 
faculty. Persons deficient in it may be excellent 
men of business, or possess a great knowledge of 
facts and of books, but they can never attain the 
highest rank in any sciences (except those that 
are merely classificatory), or in any career which 
requires that they should understand the modes of 
thought of past generations or influence those of 
the present one. This imaginative faculty usually 
acts independently of the will : it is called into play 
by a sight or a word, through association ; but in 
disciplined minds it is subjected to the will, and is 
set to do appointed tasks. ' In the first case we have 
the automatic, in the second the volitio7ial, action 
spoken of in the earlier part of this chapter. 

The volitional action of the Imagination is 
that which comes most before us in Examinations. 
Indeed we shall see as we proceed that Exa- 
minations promote volitional action and somewhat 
check spontaneity and profuseness of ideas. 

The power of distinctly presenting to the mind 
some abstruse conception, like that of polarity or 
molecular action, is an exercise of imagination 
which is in a high degree volitional, and it is so 



The Functions of Exa77iinatioiis. Selection. 253 

in two ways. It is the result of a direct effort 
of the will on each occasion, and it could not be 
exercised unless the imagination had been ha- 
bitually trained to severe exercise, and to obedi- 
ence to its master. The power of concentration 
as well as of imagination is called out, when the 
mind is directed to picture to itself conceptions 
like those just spoken of. This concentration is 
itself a very important faculty ; indeed it was 
to his beingf able to withdraw his mind from 
distractions and direct its whole energies to one 
point that Sir Isaac Newton attributed his success 
as a discoverer. 

The clearness and correctness of geometrical 
and physical conception can be accurately tested 
in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. This is 
one of the peculiar facilities which, as was said 
in the last chapter, these sciences present to the 
Examiner. By scrutinizing the student's views 
on these branches, and making him apply his 
knowledge, we test, in addition to his knowledge 
and power of carrying a train of reasoning, the 
degree in which he possesses a very valuable sort 
of imagination. It is by the want of the power 
of conception rather than that of logical percep- 
tion that the mathematical student is most com- 
monly checked in his advance. But besides being 



2 54 The Ftuictions of Examinations. Selection. 

engaged in framing conceptions, imagination is 
required to seize on the relation of ideas in a 
way which cannot be better described than it is by 
the late Mr Robert Leslie Ellis in the followine 
striking passage : — 

" Every one who lias really studied mathematics must re- 
member cases in which, after long and patient thought, the 
reason of the truth of a proposition, with the demonstration of 
which he may have been acquainted for years, has seemed to 
dawn on him; the proposition thenceforth becoming, as it 
were, a part of his own mind, — a matter about which he is no 
more capable of doubting than about the primary conceptions 
of form and magnitude. The mind thus brought into nearer, 
if not immediate, contact with necessary truth is conscious of 
its own development; and herein, I believe, resides the special 
benefit to be derived from the study of mathematics, a benefit, 
that is, distinct from* the exercise of patience and attention 
which it undoubtedly requires, but which is required also in 
other pursuits. The study of mathematics is especially valuable, 
not because it gives the student practice in ratiocination but 
because it enlarges the sphere of his intuition, by giving him 
distinct and conscious possession of truths which lay hid in his 
conceptions of figure, number, and the like." 

It might be supposed that Languages were 
more properly the domain of Imagination than 
Science ; but Language, unless treated as a na- 
tural science, offers singularly little scope for the 
play of fancy. Grammar, as commonly taught, 
is in this respect the most arid of studies. As 
soon, however, as we come to Literature, the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 255 

mind is brougrht into contact with the imag^inative 
creations of great men, and in picturing them with 
nicety, as well as in grasping the full meaning 
which a few pregnant words were meant to convey 
to the author's readers, Imagination is brought 
into active operation. This exercise of it is strictly 
volitional : but the fancy is at the same time kin- 
dled into vigorous automatic action by contact 
with fine minds. The volitional play of imagina- 
tion can be roughly tested like that of the delicacy 
of perception of which it is a principal com- 
ponent, by translation on paper ; but, as is the 
case in all attempts to test ability. It is only where 
the knowledge is very considerable that we can 
see in the student's exercise the free working 
of his mind. So long as he is struggling to 
recollect the meaning of words, or to apply rules 
of grammar, his imagination is dormant. 

Dramatic power requires a powerful Imagina- 
tion and quick human sympathies; it is not con- 
fined to the writers of drama. We find It in the 
Prologue to the Canterbury Tales In greater per- 
fection than In Beaumont and Fletcher. It resides 
In the power of transporting oneself Into the cha- 
racter we conceive — of becoming him, as it were, in 
virtue of the cogency of our conception — of seeing 
matters from his point of view, and speaking from 



256 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

his lips. Marlowe and Byron place the77iselves in 
the positions of Faustus, of Edward the Second, 
of Sardanapalus, and Marino Falieri, and show us 
what they would have said and done in the situa- 
tion of their heroes : but Shakespeare puts actu- 
ally new men and women before us, and we 
never think of the author at all. Many mimics 
will represent to the life what they have heard 
pass ; but only one with some dramatic power 
will make his characters talk as we feel they would 
have done in a supposed case. 

About this species of imagination, Examina- 
tions tell us little : it can only be tested di- 
rectly by calling on the candidates to write a 
speech or a letter in the character of some per- 
sonage, whose life and writings they have studied ; 
thoueh traces of imao^ination of this kind will 
peep out in the course of a comprehensive Ex- 
amination, in little traits and touches either in 
translation or in answers to questions on dramatic 
literature. This kind of imagination is not re- 
quired for literary men alone; no man will be 
quite successful in high offices of administration, 
such as the government of an Indian province, 
who has not sufficient tincture of it to give 
him the power of putting himself in the place of 
others, of seeing with their eyes, and feehng with 



The Ftuictions of Examinations. Selection. 257 

their nerves. A Hindoo population will rather 
submit to be ill-used now and then by a tyrannical 
native prince, than to be steadily misunderstood 
by a benevolent Briton. 

Hitherto we have regarded Imagination as 
being employed in forming the conceptions which 
are required in particular branches of study. This 
she does under the direction of the will. Exa- 
minations in these branches test the perfectness 
of these conceptions, and thereby the amount of 
the imaginative power and the state of disci- 
pline into which it has been brought. But she 
performs also another function, which is better 
recognized as her duty. She perceives relations 
between ideas ; and these perceptions which, bid- 
den or unbidden, occur to her are commonly 
spoken of as "thoughts." She may perform both 
of these functions, or she may perform one of 
them well and fail in the other. 

A person may have a clear insight into the 
mode of action of forces in physics, or he may 
picture to himself the events of history, and yet 
his mind may yield nothing of itself. No apt 
illustrations will strike him; no happy expedients, 
no reflections, will occur to him. What he reads 
he will understand, and reproduce as he received 
it, but nothing more will come of it, Such a man 

L. 17 



258 The Fimctions of Examinations. Selection. 

may do good work in many ways ; he may make a 
conscientious though hardly a suggestive teacher, 
and he may be an excellent man of business and a 
useful subordinate as a civil servant. 

On the other hand, there are men whose minds 
give off thoughts so freely as to hinder concentra- 
tion of attention. They are impatient or incapable 
of steadying their mental gaze in one direction 
sufficiently long to form a well-defined and per- 
sistent image in the camera of their minds. Here 
we have automatic action of the imagination in 
excess of volitional power. Such persons may often 
hit on novel views, and may even urge them 
with plausible arguments and forcible illustrations. 
They may or may not have the power of will 
to marshal their ideas along the path in which 
they wish to proceed. A person may be rich in 
thoughts and yet unable to carry on a long train of 
reasoning : he may start a notion and hardly care 
to see whither it would conduct him. The capa- 
city for making brilliant observations is most tell- 
ing in conversation, for here a train of reasoning is 
out of place, and the play of the imagination should 
be automatic. In like manner the charm of cer- 
tain essayists, Charles Lamb for instance, lies in 
the absence of set purpose and in the exuberance of 
happy thought, We do not care whither we are 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 259 

going as we stroll along with him — our delight 
is to be in his company. To read the Essays 
of Elia is most recreative from this very absence 
of volition in them. The exertion of will involves 
effort, and even seeing it exerted prevents perfect 
rest by reason of sympathy^. 

Examiners will always gladly note a copious- 
ness of ideas. Bilt if it be not controlled by will, 
if it end in brilliant talk, if imagination, instead of 
lighting its possessor along his road to a certain 
goal, leads him astray by its shifting gleams, then 
they discern a kind of person who is not what 
they are in search of. They do not want a 
great conversationalist or a brilliant essayist. The 
performances of such persons in life they will 
observe are usually small in comparison with their 
reputation among their friends, and they want to 
select persons who in some way or other will do 
good work. 

But though the value we attach to this au- 
tomatic activity of imagination will vary with the 
purpose we have in view in making our selection, 
still we may want to know how far such automatic 
power exists, and therefore it is our business to 



■^ I have known a person suffering from the effects of over-work quite 
distressed by the mere sight of labourers using violent exertion. 

17 — 2 



26o The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

consider how it may be made to shew itself in an 
Examination. 

If Examiners wish to see free play of thought 
in the candidates, they must set questions which 
admit of being treated discursively ; such, for in- 
stance, as turn on the grounds of scientific prin- 
ciples, or on the growth of certain influences in 
nations ; the students being in either case supposed 
to have turned their attention to the matter. A man 
who has a fertile imagination can hardly avoid 
shewing It In his illustrations or remarks; sometimes 
he may be carried away by an idea, and the com- 
pactness of his answer may suffer thereby ; but if 
the idea Is a good one the Examiner will give him 
credit for a creative mind, though he may wish to 
satisfy himself from other papers that the man has 
in general a good control over the course of his 
thoughts. In this way the quality of which we 
are In search is tmdesignedly disclosed — the can- 
didate has not sat down with the intention of 
shewing his wisdom, or his thoughtfulness, or his 
smartness in criticism. He addresses himself to 
answer the question, and the Ideas occur to him 
in so doing. If his thick-coming fancies injure the 
perspicuity of his answer, It is, as I have said, a 
defect which may be redeemed by other answers. 
If the illustration or paradox be evidently sought 



The Functio7is of Examinations. Selection. 261 

for and put in not to make his meaning clear, 
but to enrich his style — not to support the build- 
ing, but to decorate it — then the Examiner will 
not augur favourably. 

There are cases in which importance is at- 
tached to ascertaining the wealth of a young man's 
mind in point of ideas, and an English Essay 
written under Examination is regarded as a mode, 
by which "what there is in a man" may be 
brought to light, and pretty correctly measured. 
For my own part, I shrink from prying over- 
much into what is growing up in young men's 
minds, and I see little good in doing so. It 
is very hard to judge of the wine while it is 
working itself clear. Even if we thereby might 
improve our chance of securing in a Fellowship 
Examination the man most likely to " do credit 
to the College," I would rather, as a college 
tutor, forego my prospects of having something 
to boast of, than incur the danger of fostering 
unreality and intellectual coxcombry. Since, how- 
ever, there are Examinations in which much stress 
is laid upon " fertility of thought," and in which 
Essays are used to discover it, I must consider 
the mode in which they operate. 

The writing of Essays shews two things ; 
what a man has to say, and how he can say it. 



262 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

In reference to the latter the essay is looked on 
as a mode of testing the power of composition. 
This it does in an Examination in the most simple 
and direct way. The student who professes to 
have acquired the art of writing English, is called 
on to give a specimen of his skill. Good sense, 
of course, may be expected in the remarks, and 
consistency of view, but originality is hardly 
looked for ; the style is more thought of than 
the matter. Essays are regarded in this light in 
the Indian Civil Service Examination; the sub- 
jects there given are usually familiar ones, often 
calling chiefly for a power of description or nar-^ 
ration. 

But I am here concerned with essays used as 
a means of discovering the individual's store of 
wisdom or his productiveness of mind. For this 
purpose, they are, as I have said, used in Fellow- 
ship Examinations, rarely indeed at Cambridge but 
commonly at Oxford; the subjects are frequently 
such as lead to speculation or discussion, and are 
necessarily of a ''general nature," that is to say, 
they may be treated of without precise knowledge 
of facts, or of scientific truths. If this were not so 
the essay would be only a form of Examination 
in the subject to which the facts belong, and this 
subject may have been sufficiently represented in 



The Fzmctions of Examinations, Selection. 263 

other ways. By setting an essay we may, no 
doubt, often mark a particular kind of talent ; we 
may bring out some clever men, though, if we give 
too great a share of consideration to the results 
of the essay paper, we may do injustice to many 
varieties of ability. There is, moreover, a danger 
of our being taken in by some plausible personage 
who has a knack of manipulating "masses of 
thought," taken out of his tutor's note-book, with 
such dexterity as to give the impression that he 
has gone through the process of thinking out these 
thoughts, that he is quite familiar with them, and 
tosses them to and fro with giant strength. We 
have heard of a mine in the far west in which 
splendid diamonds were found by those who were 
sent to report on its value, but in which none have 
ever been found since; and I fear that some of 
these well-prepared essayists would prove as falla- 
cious as the mine, if they were picked out on the 
score of the profound views that they appear 
able to evolve at will. It might be found that 
they, like it, had been "salted" for the occasion. 

A man who has been thus provided with 
"views" and acute observations which will "come 
in" under many heads, may have destroyed in 
himself the germs of that power which he simu- 
lates. He might have had a thought or two, now 



264 The Functio7is of Examinations. Selection. 

and then, if he had been left alone — but if he is 
made first to aim at a standard of thought above 
his years, and then finds that he can get the sort 
of thoughts he wants without thinking, he is in 
a fair way to be spoiled for a thinker. The 
higher and more speculative the nature of the 
subjects is, the more certainly will young men 
be driven to tutors in order that they may lay 
up a store of general reflections or modes of 
dealing with such subjects, and, what is more 
important, the worse will be the effect on their 
own minds, I have heard of young men being 
allowed three hours, without notice of the subject, 
to deal with the following : " Trace the effects of 
Christianity in forwarding or retarding the pro- 
gress of civilisation." Here, it was said, we out- 
flank the crammer, and must see the produce of 
the student's mind. Even, however, if such a 
mode of examining did baffle *'cram", this would be 
a small matter compared with its educational effect. 
We may lose more even in our present point of 
view, that, namely of selection, by deteriorating 
the whole body of candidates, than we gain by 
the increased chance any such means may afford 
of picking out the best. 

If we lead a young graduate to think himself 
competent to dispatch in a forenoon a question on 



The FtmcHons of Examinations. Selection. 265 

which a man's Hfe time might be spent, can we 
be surprised if he turn out a self-sufficient cox- 
comb ? and can we wonder at his being incapable 
of reverence or conviction, when he has been 
led to look on Christianity and progress and 
civilisation as only a few of the counters with 
which students and tutors and Examiners play 
the game of which a Studentship or a Fellow- 
ship is the prize? 

I shall point out hereafter the way in which I 
think Essays should be employed so as to give 
us the most insight into the pupil's mind without 
actually setting him down to shew how cleverly 
he can talk on any subject that is put before him. 
But I have now to consider the operation of the 
existing practice. 

Whether we look chiefly to style and method 
or to matter, we. want to learn something of the 
pupil's habits of mind, and we want to see the 
mind working in its ordinary way. For us to do 
this it is first of all necessary that the pupil should 
be at his ease with the Examiner — that is to say, 
he must banish the thought of the Examiner as 
much as possible from his mind. He must not 
be asking himself, " What will the Examiner 
think of this or that sentiment?" He must not 
"write up" to what the Examiner may be sup- 



266 The Functions of Examinations. Selection^ 

posed to approve. We want him to be as unlike 
as possible to the author of the typical school 
theme, who is highly enamoured of virtue and 
intolerant of vice. It is not always easy to 
persuade young people to appear without some 
conventional mask ; their only stock of ideas 
and phraseology may belong either to the part 
of " propriety " or to that of "advanced thought," 
but sometimes they are natural enough. Young 
people are in more genial hands now than 
formerly, and a few words from an Examiner 
advising them to write just what they think, if 
only for the sake of the greater spirit they will 
throw into their style, will sometimes bring 
about a happy understanding and induce them 
to open their hearts. But, supposing that our 
candidates are past this primary stage, there will 
still be, in some very important particulars, ob- 
stacles in the way of our forming a judgment 
by what we see. 

I will specify two types of character which 
offer difficulty. There are some young men who 
are bad hands at making believe; they can find 
nothing to say about a subject in which they 
have no interest; they are too honest or too 
fastidious to put down the current common- 
places which they have never looked Into — they 



The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 267 

cannot feign Indignation or enthusiasm about 
"Capital Punishment" or "Female Suffrage." 
Sometimes unpractised hands will declare that 
they can find nothing to say, and these are not 
the most unpromising. I have known an Ex- 
aminer In such a case tell the candidate to explain 
on paper how it was that he had nothing to say, 
and In his doing this, some tokens of intelligence 
have appeared. 

If we reject such candidates on account of 
their scanty performance In the way of an Essay, 
we may lose sight of persons who will turn out 
well ; the best course Is, when we suspect that 
there are such candidates before us, to allow that, 
for them, this part of the Examination has been 
inoperative, and form our judgment on the rest 
of It, so far as we can do so without Injustice 
to others. 

There Is a passage in Mr Helps' Friends in 
Council^ which bears on this peculiarity of some 
young minds. One of the personages of the dia- 
logue says that a well-known man of letters told 
him that as a boy, he was found to be "the 
stupidest little dog at original composition" in 
the whole school. " I used," says he, " to take the 

^ Friends in Council. Second Series, p. 204. John W. Parker and 
Son. 1859. 



268 The Ftmctions of Exmninatio7is. Selection. 

heading of the theme back to my room, spend 
half an hour on looking at it, placing it in different 
lights — physically, not mentally — and at the end 
found out that I had nothing whatever to say 
about it." This he explains to have come from 
a " deadly kind of sincerity — an almost stupid 
sincerity." "I cannot," he adds, "talk from de- 
rived thoughts, I must have seen or felt the 
things myself that I describe." He continues, 
"the master read out 'A great man is never 
greater than in adversity.' I took the heading 
down and stared at it hopelessly, I did not 
know what a great man is like, I did not know 
what adversity is, and having a very sceptical 
nature, I should have doubted extremely whether 
the great man is greater in adversity." 

If this " man of letters " had had the advantage 
of being prepared to compete for the Indian Civil 
Service, he would have learned that the doubt he 
speaks of was the very thing he wanted. For one 
of the standard bits of advice is, or used to be, 
'^When an aphorism is set, begin by contesting 
its truth; there is much more room for talking 
if you deny than if you assent." A form of 
opening much in vogue in such cases, I am told, is 
the following: "This is one of those apophthegms 
which are regarded as truisms, until upon close 



The Functions of Examinations. Selectio7i. 269 

investigation they are found to be falsehoods ;" but 
pupils are cautioned against using the exact form 
of words, lest the similarity of their phraseology 
should strike the Examiner. 

The other case in which the action of an Essay 
is exceptional is that in which the activity of the 
brain in originating thoughts is abnormally great. 
I have already observed that persons of this 
character are frequently slower in attaining ex- 
cellence in the "arts" resulting from certain studies 
than those whose calibre is smaller on the whole 
but who are less diverted from what is before them 
by what is going on within. It might be thought 
that by setting such candidates to write an Eng- 
lish Essay we were taking the best means of 
bringing out their peculiar powers. We find, 
however, that this is not always the case. If a 
subject takes hold of their fancy, they see so 
many ways of looking at it — so many arguments 
present themselves on different sides at the same 
time, that they cannot rapidly take a view clear 
and consistent enough to be put on paper. They 
may not necessarily be inferior to the rest in 
power of arrangement, but they are more em- 
barrassed because they have much more to ar- 
ranae. Persons of this cast of mind suffer much 
from the limitation of time. Their mode of 



270 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

proceeding if left to themselves would be, to 
begin by writing fully, putting down pretty freely 
the ideas that suggested themselves, then to re- 
view their composition, suppress much, and de- 
velop what was wanted to give coherence to the 
whole. This would not be a bad plan for them 
to follow; in time they would select what was 
apposite for their purpose as they went on. But 
such students are often overtaken by their Ex- 
amination before they have reached this stage — • 
for minds of original power do not always ripen 
early — and thus they are often bewildered by 
getting a view of the subject which cannot 
possibly be put on their limited canvas: they 
often begin with an introduction which occupies 
nearly all their time, and their conclusions have 
to be huddled in, leaving their best thoughts un- 
said. Their work is like an architectural building 
which is all porch. 

These cases exemplify the danger there Is In 
using an essay as an absolute criterion. We 
must not always infer the absence of the powers 
wanted for good composition because they do not 
appear, and this mode of examining should only 
be used where great latitude can be left to the 
Examiners, where, in fact, the whole Examination 
is viewed simply as a means of arriving at an, 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 271 

opinion on the merits of the candidates, and each 
Examiner is allowed to arrive at his conclusion by 
any means he thinks best. We can hardly give 
a definite number of "marks'- to an English 
Essay. 

The two cases I have just considered, would 
come before us if we took a body of candidates 
who were not expecting to be set to write 
an essay, and who had therefore never been 
*' specially prepared." Another set of difficulties 
is introduced by such preparation ; the Examiner 
has to separate what is due to the pupil from 
what is due to the tutor. We must not give way 
to the practice of branding as ''cram" all that 
is received from instruction. For a tutor to give 
his pupils hints to work up into an essay is an 
excellent way of teaching; such hints may come 
into use in what is produced in Examination, and 
the Examiner may mistake them for the pupil's 
own ideas; but the fault is not that of the teacher. 
He must not refrain from doing the best for his 
pupil's mind because an Examiner may overrate 
his power owing to his being well taught. The 
case is indeed different if the student is supplied, 
not with a few hints for an Essay once a fortnight 
which v/ill furnish food for thought, but with 
particular ways of looking at or putting things^ 



272 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

which are recommended to him for their HkeH- 
hood to be of service in an Examination. If 
the pupil puts forward his tutor's views with the 
hope of getting credit for them as coming "out 
of his own head," the moraHty of the proceed- 
ing is defective. 

If we take the candidates who present them- 
selves for any open Examination we shall find that 
some few have been trained to write English well, 
a few more have had some assistance, while a large 
number have never been taught to express them- 
selves at all. Those who have acquired a good 
English style, have an advantage which should 
quite rightly stand them in good stead. This is 
not a mere transitory possession, but one that 
permanently increases the efficiency of the man; 
more than this, it is true that "Le style c'est 
rhomme," and if a person expresses himself with 
perspicuity and vigour we may judge favourably 
of his general ability, and infer that he has some 
taste in English Literature. This taste will go far 
to induce him to carry on self-cultivation, and 
therefore, as I have before said, must be taken 
into account in selecting the candidates most likely 
to turn out able men. 

But apart from the question of style, we find 
that out of a number of candidates about one in 



The Functions of Examinations, Selection. 273 

ten makes some striking remarks ; and sometimes 
such a candidate may not have attracted atten- 
tion by his other performances. We may often 
feel confident, from the naturalness of the style, 
from the way in which the illustration seems to 
come readily to hand, and the genuine interest 
shewn in the point discussed, that the candidate 
is really saying what he thinks and feels, and not 
what has been put into his mouth. There are 
minds too elastic in substance to be moulded 
into set shape, and these will shew freshness of 
thought in an English essay, and we may see 
from it, what we want, the real mind of the man. 
It is the success of the system in cases like these 
which has given it its repute. 

Further, an essay acts effectively in what 
we may call a negative sense. It shews where 
the mind is arid, where there is no imagination 
or ideality. This is one of the indications on 
which experience shews that most dependence 
may be placed. 

If a number of candidates for a scholarship 
be set down to write essays there will be 
some — occasionally fair proficients in Classics, 
or Mathematics, or Natural Science — whose per- 
formances will shew that they have little or no- 
thing in their minds. They do not belong to 
L. 18 



2 74 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

the exceptional classes spoken of just now, those 
who send up hardly anything, or else some dis- 
jointed matter. These youths write several pages 
each of grammatical English, without an idea, 
without a happy Illustration, or a phrase which 
exactly hits the mark. It sometimes seems as 
If their special training for a definite object had 
repressed the romance of youth. Ask them to 
sketch their ideal of a career, and you may find 
it terminate in domestic comfort or in earning 
money : for instance, in " a snug solicitor's busi- 
ness In a country town with an adjacent villa," 
or in a mastership In a school, with vacations 
spent with a few pupils in Wales, "whereby I 
might combine profit with pleasure." The Eng- 
lish Essay does great service In laying bare 
minds of this description. The dull youth may 
have been studious, and his brain is the more 
receptive from the absence of any Internal com- 
motion, so that he may be brought up to the 
standard of what may be called the staple 
"trade article," which schoolmasters can dispose 
of at the Colleges which have small Open 
Scholarships. The thinness of the soil Is often 
displayed by the English Essay, and frequently 
its prognostication proves correct. 

Our enquiry then leads to the conclusion, that 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 275 

the English Essay serves the purpose of testing 
the fund of ideas in the minds of candidates well 
enough when the imaginative faculty is very 
strong or very weak, but that in intermediate 
cases we cannot depend on it to detect shades of 
difference. Indeed imagination is so various in 
form as well as in degree, that we cannot expect 
to determine nicely grades of superiority In this 
respect ; we should require, in this as in so many 
other cases, to know how the candidates have 
been prepared. 

For instance, a young man brought up In the 
society of grown people of cultivated intellect, 
imbibes, without any action of his own mind, the 
thoughts of those about him. He may have been 
accustomed to take part Iri the conversation that 
passes around him, and has thus possessed him- 
self of a much greater range of observations on 
the subjects of the day, than falls to the lot of 
a schoolboy, though possibly his mind has not 
worked so much; he has been imbibing with- 
out effort of his own. On the other hand, a lad 
restricted to the society of his coevals at school, 
is often shut out from all intellectual suggestion 
excepting through what is given him to learn : 
the conversation that passes between schoolboys 
does not commonly tend to the development of 



276 The Fimdions of Examinations. Selection. 

ideas. , Hence in an essay produced in a Scholar- 
ship Examination, or in that for the Indian Civil 
Service, a youth from a cultivated home may 
shew to advantage, but his greater supply of 
topics does not always represent superior power. 

In these cases I have been supposing that 
account is taken of the style and method as well 
as of the matter of the essay. Style, besides 
being in itself valuable, tells us something of the 
man : when it flows easily it shews that the 
mental apparatus works smoothly, and when it 
is vigorous and condensed it shews energy;- and 
physical power of brain. Method implies a cer- 
tain power of will; in cases where the faculties 
act altogether automatically, there is usually an 
utter want of method. This quality is easy to 
observe, and it is of great value for practical life ; 
its total absence would indicate a condition of 
mind incompatible with first-class ability of the 
sort wanted by the fra^ners of Examinations. 

It may be asked whether that variety of the 
imaginative faculty, which is called out and tested 
in an essay, is wanted in a candidate for official 
employment, or only in one whose services we 
hope to retain for science or learning. I con- 
sider that, excepting in the case of a young 
writer of striking excellence, who might be worth 



The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 277 

securing for literature or science, the sort of 
ability thus discovered is most to be valued as 
an indication of capacity for administrative affairs. 
What a good essay principally shews is a 
readiness in putting on paper, in a clear and 
orderly manner, a view that presents itself on 
applying the mind to a given subject. This 
is valuable for the drawing up of a despatch, 
a report or a defence of a course of proceeding. 
A good essay will also shew some power of 
seizing on important points, and of putting 
things in new and striking lights. All these 
qualities are of great practical value in official 
life, but are not necessarily characteristic of an 
aptitude for original research. It may however be 
well to see that they are not wanting in a scien- 
tific man. We must not suppose that one who 
writes a fair essay with great ease will be able to 
write a book. The kind of qualities wanted in 
the two cases are very different. Hazlitt and 
Lamb wrote excellent essays, but never could 
write books which had a definite purpose. A man 
cannot lay down the scheme of a comprehensive 
work without much tension and concentration of 
mind, neither can he carry it to an end without 
steady power of will. Of none of these quali- 
ties does a short essay afford any sure indication. 



278 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

Hitherto we have supposed the subjects pro- 
posed for essays to be of a general nature, and 
a very Hmited time to be allowed for their pro- 
duction, such being the usual conditions in ordi- 
nary practice. But these conditions are not 
essential ; the subject of the dissertation required 
may be taken from the branch of study which 
the student has been pursuing, and ample time 
may be given. Changes such as these would 
furnish us with a different kind of test ; one 
which would give us better means of judging 
of depth and solidity, but which would, not 
discover readiness and versatility so well. To 
look forward to having to write an essay which 
shall embody some of the views which should 
form themselves in the course of reading has a 
good educational effect, and as a means of selec- 
tion this mode of proceeding offers many advan- 
tages, and more especially this. It shews us 
what the candidate can do under the ordinary 
circumstances in which he would be called on 
to write, or at least under conditions less ex- 
ceptional than those in which essays are usually 
written in Examinations. 

If we set a number of young men down to write 
for three hours without their knowing, until they 
unfold the paper given them, whether they are 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 279 

to treat of "the Prince of Wales' visit to India," 
or "the influence of authority in matters of 
opinion," we are caUing on them to perform a 
sort of tour de force, which is not a trustworthy 
specimen of their powers. The special circum- 
stances under which they are placed, tell, as we 
have seen, to the advantage of some as compared 
with others in virtue of peculiarities of tem- 
perament which do not correspond to differences 
of intellectual capacity of the sort we want to 
estimate. 

But when the subject proposed arises out of 
the branch of learning to which the student has 
addressed himself, we can mark the judgment 
shewn in selecting and storing up reflections as 
well as the comprehensiveness of his survey of 
the subject of study, and his power of writing 
with method and precision. These qualities are 
more to be depended on as evidence of the 
mental calibre of the man, than the readiness and 
productiveness of mind under pressure which may 
be displayed in an off-hand essay. 

The complicated question of how much time 
should be allowed for answering a paper will 
meet us again, but thus much may be said on it 
here. A short allowance of time favours readi- 
ness, versatility of attention, and that kind of 



28o The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

intuitive perception of the right things to say or 
to do on the moment, which Dr Carpenter would 
class as " ideo-motor action." These are habits of 
mind of great practical utility and likely to bring 
success in actual life ; but while they are by no 
means inconsistent with the possession of the 
highest qualities they do not indicate them of 
themselves. On the other hand, to be pressed 
for time paralyses some who might shew power 
of thought. Hence, we have the common im- 
pression, which is, in the main, a correct one, 
that in order to discover the men most likely to 
do well in active life we should employ an Ex- 
amination against time — the Cambridge Mathe- 
matical Tripos for instance — but to find the 
men most likely to serve science we should 
adopt one in which abundance of time is allowed, 
like that for the Smith's Prizes. Some minds 
are all the better for the stimulus of pressure, 
while others are driven by it into a fever. 

I have already spoken of one or two cases 
in which a narrow limitation of the time allowed 
for an essay might give us a wrong result, but 
I would add one remark which applies to other 
kinds of Examinations as well. I have observed, 
as a constant symptom of young minds growing 
into fertility and power, that their best thoughts 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 281 

mostly come as after-thoughts. An idea occurs 
to them at first in a somewhat bare or im- 
perfect form, and when they review their work, 
some valuable extension, or necessary qualifica- 
tion, or happy illustration, is suggested. We see 
the same thing in translation — the word that is 
interlined on revision is often that which shews 
that the writer has caught the point — and after 
solving a mathematical problem some simpler 
process may strike the student when he reads 
over his performance. What the student has 
said or done in his first draft remains by him 
without his knowing it, while his attention passes 
on to other matter. *' Unconscious cerebration " 
is taking place all the time, and when he recurs 
to what he has written, he finds that his ideas 
have grown and his conceptions have become 
more exact. This perfecting power marks minds 
of a high order, and we should be careful to 
give an opportunity for its display ; whereas if 
scanty time be allowed for revision, an advan- 
tage is given to men of quite a different type — • 
men who never improve upon their first ideas 
— with whom the work "is done when it is 
done." The performances of such may often be 
better than the first draft of an abler man's 
writing, but inferior to the revised copy. Of 



282 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

course candidates should be given to understand 
how much more important quality is than quan- 
tity, or they may use the extra time in covering 
more paper. 

But besides affording very ample time, I 
would also allow candidates while writing their 
essay in the Examination Room to have ac- 
cess to some standard authorities on their 
subject. What these should be would rest with 
the Examiners. This proposal needs some re- 
commendation because to many it will seem 
novel. It is a mode of carrying out the principle 
above stated of making the candidate write in 
an Examination under circumstances as little 
exceptional as possible. What I mean will be 
most clearly understood from an example. Let 
us suppose that students have been engaged in 
studying the Language, Literature, and History 
of Greece. The Examination of such might 
comprise an essay paper, to which a whole 
day might be given. The subject might be : 
" The changes in the national character of the 
Athenians between the times of Pericles and 
Demosthenes." The candidates should then have 
access to the texts of the Greek Historians, 
Dramatists, and Orators, and also to works on 
Chronology and Antiquities. One effect of this 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 283 

plan would be to induce candidates to read 
their Greek authors in a less scholastic man- 
ner, and more in the way in which they would 
be read by a literary man engaged in Greek 
History. They would want to k7tow their way 
about Thucydides and Demosthenes, but they 
would not be overburdened by having to re- 
collect particulars. When they noted a valuable 
fact or observation they would turn it over to 
their " Index Memories," and be able to lay 
their hands on the passage which contained it 
if they should want it. No man in writing a 
book would be justified in quoting from memory, 
however confident he may feel of remembering 
rightly. Authors no doubt did so in old times, 
when books were harder to come by, and vast 
trouble has been caused to their editors in con- 
sequence. There is now no object in forcing 
men to carry a number of details in their heads. 
By this plan, moreover, the Examiner obtains 
a further advantage. The range of the subjects 
which can be given for essays is very much 
extended ; for there are many points about 
which candidates could not write, without the 
help I propose to offer, even if the subjects 
were taken from their favourite branch of study, 
because so much would turn on questions of 



284 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

fact or on authority. It is one of the evils of 
the common system that since facts cannot be 
made of great importance in an essay, those who 
look to the essay as their strong point, under- 
value accuracy in point of facts, as compared with 
ingenuity of remark. 

This method of proceeding is as applicable to 
some branches of science as it is to literature. 
The Dissertations required in the Smith's Prize 
Examination at Cambridge, bear on subjects 
that have been studied, and ample time is allowed. 
Access to authorities is not permitted, and from 
the nature of the subjects given may not be very 
necessary, but the choice of subjects would be 
larger if certain books of reference, such especially 
as give information on the history of science, 
or on the magnitudes of the quantities that come 
under consideration, could be allowed. 

It may be asked whether there is not more 
likelihood of the matter of an essay being drawn 
from the tutor, when the topic chosen is thus 
taken from a specified branch of study. I should 
answer that the Examiner has better means of 
judging of what is original in this case than in 
that of a "general" subject. He will have ac- 
quainted himself with the views of the principal 
writers on the point he selects, and he will expect 



The Functions of Examinations, Selection. 285 

to meet with these in the productions that come 
before him. He will give the candidates credit 
nevertheless, if he finds that they have understood 
what they have read, and have selected the sound- 
est views and weightiest considerations. He will 
not expect much originality, still less will he 
wish to force candidates to pretend to it. If he 
should meet with what strikes him as an original 
view, it will probably be really the candidate's 
own, for the tutor would not be likely to keep 
to himself any valuable views on History and 
Science, because these would gain him considera- 
tion by being made public, while smart sayings, 
or paradoxical views, which might be brought 
to bear on subjects of a "general" nature, would 
be of no great value for any other purpose. 

Essays written altogether at leisure, such as 
those which are sent in to compete for Uni- 
versity prizes, are also good tests of ability, 
but they hardly fall under the head of Exami- 
nations. » 

It may be said that practical inconvenience 
would be found in supplying access to books of 
reference if the number of candidates were large ; 
but I do not contemplate employing the method 
under review except for distinguishing one or two 
out of a few candidates who have been already 



286 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

selected by some previous process. As far as 
my experience goes, the effect of an English 
essay in an Examination is this : A few, perhaps 
one-tenth of the candidates, write well ; the essay 
brings their special qualities under notice, and 
gives valuable information about them ; while 
the rest may be grouped as " fair," " indifferent," 
and "bad." In these groups the evidence fur- 
nished by the essay usually agrees pretty well 
with what would be inferred from the rest of a 
General Examination, but among those who do 
poorly are found a few from whom (judging from 
their other work) we should expect something 
better, and here, the negative effect above spoken 
of, is of practical value. Hence, for the purposes 
in view, there would be no need to admit any 
but candidates of superior attainments to compete 
by means of essays in the way proposed. 

If I have dwelt at what may seem unnecessary 
length on the subject of the essay as a mode 
of Examination, it is because it may assist us 
in solving a considerable difficulty that will meet 
us when we have to deal with the question of 
Fellowships. It seems likely that two classes 
at least of such emoluments will be required : 
the one, as pure rewards for University success, 
involving no duties : the other, for those who shall 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 287 

be engaged in education or who are likely to do 
good service in the way of research. There may 
be a difficulty in finding opportunities for some of 
the latter class to shew their qualifications, and 
if so, an essay written under the conditions I 
have just named, seems the least objectionable 
kind of Examination. I only state this now, as 
an apology for having lingered so long upon the 
point : the consideration of the mode of selection 
which should be adopted for Fellowships and 
Scholarships will require a chapter to itself. 

Connected with this power of engendering 
and expressing ideas which has occupied us so 
long, but different from it in very essential 
points, is that of reasoning. When we have 
considered this matter we shall have finished 
our rough survey of the chief intellectual quali- 
ties which can be revealed by Examinations. 
The reasoning power may be described generally 
as that capacity whereby the logical sequence of 
the steps in a train of argument is apprehended 
and the investigation followed up to its con- 
clusion. A thinker may hit on a valuable 
thought without being able to tell how he has 
arrived at it. He probably went through some 
unconscious process of mind, but the idea seemed 
to flash upon him all at once — just as the 



288 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

answer to an enigma comes on a sudden into 
the head. 

Moreover, a man may have much fertility of 
idea, and may now and then Hght on a new truth, 
and yet be very averse to going through a pro- 
cess of proof to estabhsh its certainty. He may 
be unequal to the sustained tension of mind 
required to do this; he may not have the pa- 
tience and the knowledg^e of the laws of thougrht 
which are needed, or the habit of applying them. 
A speculative thinker is to a systematic reasoner 
what an exploring party, which makes a dash into 
a new tract of country, is to the regular force 
which, acting perhaps on the news thus obtained, 
advances in regular form into the region, occupy- 
ing station after station, and annexing the new 
domain. Those who are disinclined to put their 
own thoughts into logical order would be still 
more averse to going through the demonstra- 
tion of a known theorem : they may have little 
perception of logical sequence, no pleasure in 
markino; refined reasoning- or scrutinising the va- 
lidity of some novel mode of proof, and they are 
unwilling to encounter the mental fatigue attend- 
ant on this, to them, unattractive kind of labour. 
On the other hand, those who find a pleasure 
in following out a demonstration, who compre- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 289 

hend thoroughly what is requisite to constitute 
proof, and what is the degree of certainty which 
can be attained in their subject, may have no in- 
vention, no happy anticipation of what they are 
coming to, and if they ever do reach anything 
new, they get at it by travelhng along what the 
Germans call the carriage-road of thought. 

By means of Examinations we may test this 
power of reasoning. Sometimes it is exerted by 
the candidate in the act of answering the ques- 
tions put to him, sometimes it has been exerted 
previously, and is only recalled into partial opera- 
tion in the Examination itself. 

A person must of course proceed by steps of 
reasoning in order to solve any problem in natural 
philosophy, but it is not in the process of reason- 
ing that the difficulty lies. When the student 
has got hold of a right physical conception, and 
the right way to look at a case in order to bring 
it under some of his general theorems, then he 
proceeds to the proof by steps which are quite 
familiar to him. The student's ingenuity and re- 
source are well tested by a problem paper, but 
to see his appreciation of reasoning we must 
mark how he goes through the steps of a demon- 
stration. Explanations of phenomena and proofs 
of principles or of theorems, (asked for in such 
L. 19 



290 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

a form as to preclude their being drawn straight 
from the book,) are sometimes more effective 
than problems for trying the strength of the 
student's head. Indeed, it is beginning to be 
found that skill in solving problems is not an 
unfailing test of natural cleverness or thorough 
comprehension of the science, but that it may- 
come from a special knack acquired by long prac- 
tice and by confining the attention to subjects 
fertile in examples. In some sciences, Ethics, 
Law, and Political Economy, cases may be given 
for the application of principles ; these take the 
place of problems in Mathematics. The student 
to reach his conclusion must go through the pro- 
cess of reasoning in the Examination room, and 
thus such performances afford good means of 
judging of his logical power. 

The reasoning produced in proof of some 
general proposition is rarely the fruit of the indi- 
vidual's own brain, but is valuable as the result 
of stored-up previous labour, which shews that 
he has, at some time before, exercised the quali- 
ties wanted for mastering a train of thought. 
He carries it in his mind in virtue of seeingf 
the logical dependence of the links on each other, 
and memory, except in the case of a very artificial 
proof (and such artificial demonstrations are not 



The Functio7is of Examinations. Selection. 291 

well suited for Examinations) is only concerned in 
furnishing a recollection of the general course to 
be taken. The reasoning power must have been 
efficiently exerted when the theorem was learnt, 
and this past work forms a fund on which the 
student can draw for Examination purposes by 
merely refreshing his memory. 

We see then, that the reproduction of a de- 
monstration calls out a different faculty from 
that which is exercised in applying its results 
to examples. These two sorts of power supple- 
ment one another, and for an Examination to 
be complete it should provide for eliciting both 
kinds. The " moral elements " involved differ in 
the two cases ; in struggling with a problem or 
a puzzling question the student is buoyed up 
with the hope of getting to the result, and of 
having a solution to shew ; he Is stimulated by 
the spirit of pursuit or of contest. But to work 
steadily through a given piece 'of hard reasoning, 
where every step has to be made good as he 
goes on, and which yields him no trophy of 
triumph, requires a greater fund of character and 
mental endurance — just as a harassing march Is 
more trying to the moral stamina of troops than 
an assault. 

No doubt a student before producing the. de- 

10 — 2 



292 The Ftuidions of Examinations. Selection. 

monstration of a subject will want to run his eye 
over ft. However thoroughly the matter may have 
been assimilated, It can hardly be produced with 
the great rapidity now required in an Examina- 
tion unless It be fresh in the mind. Hence some 
who are always on the look-out for an occasion to 
cry "cram" will do so here. But the knowledge 
that can be rendered fit for production by a few 
hours of review Is not "cram"^ — It must have been 
assimilated. The picture may have got dingy, but 
it only wants a coat of varnish to be as bright as 
ever. The knowledge may again lose its fresh- 
ness, but the structure is permanent ; the habits 
of mind and ways of viewing things formed by 
the study are of lasting value. The barrister will 
need to turn to his text books and the cases in 
point, before going Into Court, but no one who 
is not a lawyer will be any the wiser for doing so. 
We must, however, both in framing schemes 
of Examination and In carrying them out, always 
recollect that attempts will be made to simulate 
the operation of the qualities which are supposed 
to be Indicated by what Is produced in Exami- 
nation. It may be that the course of reasoning 
produced is a mere transfer to paper of what has 
been learnt from a book by rote, and that the logi- 
cal processes involved have never been performed 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 293 

by the student's mind. This happens when the 
pupil learns propositions of Euclid by heart and 
writes them out, as candidates will sometimes do 
in Pass Examinations. This practice is easily 
baffled by enunciating the theorem in a slightly 
different manner from that given in the text. 
With Pass Examinations I am not at present con- 
cerned; they will come before us hereafter. Some- 
thing of the same kind is now and then attempted 
with isolated propositions in the higher Exami- 
nations, but the attempt very rarely succeeds, and 
if ever it does so, it is only in the case of those 
who are struggling to get through at the tail of an 
Honour-list, that is to say, where the Examination, 
though competitive in form, is really a qualifying 
Examination only. In the hypothetical case we 
are dealing with, I suppose the object to be to 
discriminate between men of considerable ability, 
and such men would not engage in these prac- 
tices. We may expect them to be above any- 
thing of the kind : besides the inducement to 
learn what they did not understand would hardly 
exist with them, because they might always em- 
ploy their time to more advantage in learning 
something additional which they could properly 
master. Students, no doubt, comprehend what 
they learn in different degrees, they may be more 



2 94 ^>^^ Functio7is of Examinations. Selection. 

or less clear, both in their conceptions, and in per- 
ceiving the logical validity of the steps and the 
necessity of the various qualifications which should 
accompany their statements. A haziness of view 
can usually be detected by an Examiner; very 
frequently it is shewn by the omission or imperfect 
enunciation of the above-named qualifications, and 
if, in putting the questions, a slight alteration be 
made from the suppositions under which the 
theorem Is worked out in the book, this im- 
perfection of knowledge will be brought to light. 
It is sometimes well to append a question or 
two on the nature of the proof or on points 
which offer difficulty, and it may be advisable to 
have it stated that If such questions are not at- 
tempted, little or no credit will be given for 
reproducing the demonstration of the theorem. 

What I have just said applies chiefly to an 
Examination in the exact sciences. In moral 
science and its kindred subjects a far greater 
difficulty presents itself. 

These subjects must in great part be dealt 
with historically. Where people are not pretty 
well agreed as to the fundamental propositions, or 
as to the conclusions reached In a branch of 
knowledge, the student will generally be called on 
to give the views of certain writers. A long list 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 295 

of books may be named, the student cannot ob- 
tain a precise knowledge of all, and he will look 
to his tutor to provide him with abstracts of the 
tenets of certain schools of philosophers and an 
outline of the mode in which they arrived at their 
conclusions. Here the logical element is blended 
with an historical one, the phraseology and the 
ideas are usually less precise, and the sequence 
of the steps less immediate, than in the more 
exact sciences : there is also, frequently, a large 
proportion of definitive or formulated statement 
which may be committed to memory. 

The subjects are usually so extensive that it is 
impossible to require the exact reproduction of 
the reasoning of the writer, in the close way in 
which a mathematical theorem is reproduced — and 
an abstract or outline of proof is all that can be 
expected. If the student drew this up for himself, 
and the teacher confined his assistance to giving 
a clear insight into the writer's meaning, all would 
be well, but unfortunately a strong temptation is 
held out to those who are preparing students 
for Examination to do this work of digesting for 
them ; thus the pupil is furnished with the results 
of thought without thinking, which, as Mr Mill 
observes in the passage quoted early in this 
book, is a very enervating process, and the Ex- 



296 The Functions of Examinations. Selectio7t. 

aminer is at a loss to discover how far the pupil's 
answers represent a process of reasoning previous- 
ly gone through by himself, and how far they are 
due only to his remembering what has been told 
him. Mr Todhunter in his "Conflict of Studies" 
observes that it would be convenient sometimes in 
Mathematics to ask for the outline of a proof only, 
but he remarks that if this practice became com- 
mon, such outlines would be prepared by the tutors, 
and the students would not go through the pro- 
cesses which we want, and which we give them 
credit for having performed. 

In mental science there is little answering 
to the separate detailed propositions of natural 
philosophy, and much of which the pupil can 
only be asked to give a general account. Skilled 
Examiners can often distinguish tutorial manu- 
script from the student's own work, especially 
if they can employ viva voce Examination. But 
though spurious knowledge may be detected now 
and then, still if the profits be large the manu- 
facture of the counterfeit may be carried on 
to such an extent as to throw discredit on the 
results of an Examination, and I must therefore 
conclude that this subject, whatever be its educa- 
tional or intrinsic value, is, like those which' con- 
sist mainly of facts, ill-adapted to form the staple 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 297 

of a competitive Examination. We must re- 
ward proficiency in it, for the study of it will 
be given up if we do not ; but we should 
not make it the wrestling ground for youthful 
wits in general, both for the reason above given 
and because, though this science may be well 
suited for a few robust and peculiarly constituted 
intellects, yet mental physiologists seem pretty well 
agreed that for most young minds introspection, or 
an attempt to view, as from without, the operation 
of their own brains, is positively dangerous. The 
few might shew their attainments by writing or 
by teaching well, or, if something of the nature 
of an Examination be wanted, by composing 
an essay under the conditions recommended 
above. 

Further, the style in which demonstrations are 
reproduced tells us something of the powers and 
habits of mind of the candidate. If he says all 
that is essential, and nothing that Is not so — if he 
can put tersely what he enunciates or what he con- 
cludes — If his mastery of expression is such that 
he can always find words to say exactly what he 
wishes — If he is never forced to suppress some qua- 
lification or to append what is unnecessary by the 
exigencies of his sentence — then we may be sure 
that we have to do with a man of head, and with 



2(^% The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

one whose ability is not confined to the special 
matter in view — that he is not merely a mathema- 
tician, for instance, or a moral philosopher, — but 
a man who is able to think distinctly, and who is 
likely to speak plainly and act vigorously in any 
circumstances in which he may be placed. To 
bring out this capacity it is essential that the 
candidate should not be over-hurried. " Mathe- 
matical style" is an expression constantly used in 
old writers about Examinations, but it is com- 
plained that in the papers sent up even by the 
best men now, excellence in this way is less con- 
spicuous than it formerly was, and the Tripos at 
Cambridge has thereby lost a part of its efficiency 
for drawing out the sort of ability likely to make 
its mark in life. When rapidity is everything, 
the quality which a student values most is short- 
ness. "My tutor," one will say to another, "has 
shewn me a way of proving that in half the 
time." Clearness and naturalness of procedure in 
a method of proof win it less favour with the 
student than brevity. He wants to write as little 
as possible consistently with getting full marks, 
and the qualifications needed to a statement are 
often hinted at in an epithet rather than ex- 
pressed. Thus there is a danger of our coming to 
a sort of telegraphic code in our mode of answer- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 299 

ing, and even of this kind of conventional short- 
hand affecting the style of scientific literature. 

If we want then to have the reasoning power 
of our candidates properly cultivated, and fully dis- 
played in Examination, I must urge the importance 
of allowing the candidates ample time, and of leav- 
ing the Examiner at liberty to frame hi^view from 
all that comes before him. He may of course use 
marks for each question, as he likes, to aid his 
memory; but should not be bound by them or feel 
in any way "under contract" with the student 
to give him credit for every scrap that is correct^ 
We limited our enquiry at starting to those 
constituents of ability which the framers of Ex- 
aminations have in view, and which Examinations 
test. This enquiry is now at an end — we find that 
we may expect to find power of attention, memory 
in various shapes, delicacy of perception, concentra- 
tion, imagination and reasoning power, and that 
Examinations will help us to judge of how far 
these qualities exist. We see moreover that behind 
all these qualities lies something which a mental 

^ When Examinations are used scholastically, that is, to see how 
students have learnt, we limit time in order to test readiness and thorough 
preparation. One who knows well what he has learnt ought to have an 
advantage over one who has to puzzle it out. It is also true that if Ex- 
aminers are not bound to render marks, and have no personal interest 
in choosing the best men, they may be tempted to do their work less 
thoroughly than when their view of each question is recorded. 



300 The Ftmctions of Examinations. Selection. 

physiologist would call massiveness or robustness of 
brain, and which we call energy of mind — of 
this so far as it is brought out in dealing with 
books or ideas we can judge fairly, we see that 
knowledge has been got, and know that brainwork 
must have been done to get it — and in addition 
we note indications of strength or feebleness of 
will : we can find out from a set of papers pretty 
well whether a man knows his own mind or not. 

But lest we should mistake the knowledge of 
a part for the whole, we must cast our eyes over 
the range of qualities which Examinations leave 
unexplored. 

On so doing we at once see another variety of 
that mental energy just spoken of, or rather another 
side of its sphere of work: we learn nothing of it 
when it is turned to dealing with action or with 
7nen. Indeed all qualities connected with action, 
and all that involve sympathy with human beings, 
or the power of influencing them, all that have to 
do with tact, address, and personal manner, lie out- 
side the range of our testing apparatus. Most 
moral qualities do so also. We cannot even tell 
whether to refer an individual to one or the other 
of the two types, which are the foci round which 
a large portion of mankind is grouped. We 
cannot see whether he is likely, in any given posi- 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 301 

tion, to do as much or as little in the way of 
duty as he possibly can. 

It is true that a student must have done work 
to get his learning together, but it may have been 
done under something approaching to compulsion, 
either that of masters, or of an overwhelming in- 
ducement. We can hardly guess at all, especially 
from a single Examination, whether the work has 
been done willingly and conscientiously, or by a 
person of good parts, but no intellectual tastes, 
who is looking forward to winning a prize, in 
order to indemnify himself for his drudgery by 
future advantages. 

Mr W. Hopkins once attracted much attention 
by his evidence as to the blameless lives led by 
those who, under his hands, had reached high 
University Honours ; and there is no doubt but 
that to work freely for a reward three years 
distant, and that too where society, with all its 
solicitations and enjoyments, is close at hand, is, in 
itself, an evidence of moral steadfastness and self 
command ; but then this guarantee comes not 
only from what is shewn in the Examination, but 
from the circumstances under which the knowledge 
has been acquired. It is indeed hardly likely that 
a person could master the great mass of matter 
required for the Mathematical Tripos, if he were 



302 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

liable to irregularity of conduct, but candidates for 
scholarships who have worked well under strict dis- 
cipline at school sometimes prove unequal to being 
their own masters in the way wanted at college. 

Competitive Examinations leave us most in 
the dark about those qualities which find their 
sphere in active life, but they also fail us in 
one important point when we want to select 
men to fill posts intended for the "endowment 
of research." It is most important to know 
whether persons have a taste for their study, 
and about this Examinations hardly tell us any- 
thing. We meet with cases of hard-headed men 
who obtain high degrees in a course which they 
select as offering them the most favourable field, 
but who never care to open a book in their 
branch of study afterwards. Their object has 
been to win a place in the front, and they have 
done so, as one of the conditions for future get- 
ting on : the Examination was one of the hurdles 
in their race, and they cleared it, but they may 
care nothing whatever for classics or mathe- 
matics or whatever science they have taken up. 
Only, let me say, that, as a man must go a 
little out of his way to acquire a proficiency in a 
branch of natural or experimental science, there is 
the greater probability that a proficient in these 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 30 



v) 



subjects will have a genuine taste for them. This 
silence of Examinations, as to tastes, prevents our 
placing reliance upon them as a means of selecting 
those who should be admitted to hold ''endow- 
ments for research," although to have done well 
in educational Examinations must be regarded 
favourably as an evidence of general power. 

It must be remarked that if we get wrong 
results by trusting to Examinations it is usually 
because we use them to the exclusion of all other 
modes of judging — much as an invalid who pins 
his faith on a new nostrum will sometimes o-ive 
up taking ordinary precautions. We have all the 
means of forming an opinion that we had before 
Examinations were introduced, and if these were 
used with care and method we mis^ht oret near 
the truth about some of the moral and personal 
qualities of candidates. Insurance companies get 
information that they can trust as to the ways of 
living of applicants for policies, and some use 
might be made of testimony as to the way in which 
students have learned, and as to their behaviour. 
But the fact is that the public are afraid of the 
reintroduction of the patronage system, and would 
cling to Examinations "pure and simple" as a safe- 
guard even if they were less to be trusted than they 
are. I need not consider further the qualities about 



304 The Functions of Examinaiions. Selection. 

which Examinations do not enable us to judge, 
but I must recur to one or two disturbing causes 
which sometimes interfere with their operation 
where they might be expected to be trustworthy. 

I have said that in certain subjects, classics 
and mathematics especially, persons usually reach 
a kind of limit, not of knowledge exactly, but 
of power of using the knowledge — just as they 
reach a limit of skill in playing on a musical in- 
strument — some are long in reaching this limit, 
and there may be some who go on improving all 
their lives; but in general, one who after the usual 
course of study is a second or third rate scholar or 
mathematician, as shewn by Examination, would 
get but little more general grasp of his subject 
by further reading, although he may grow clearer 
as to some points, especially if he be engaged in 
teaching, and, of course, may become acquainted 
with fresh books on his subject. The limits so 
reached are important elements in judging of his 
ability, but the difficulty is to know whether a 
candidate in an open Examination has reached 
this limit or not. We do not know how long 
each candidate has been engaged in study, and 
some candidates may have been specially trained, 
so that the metal may have received all the work- 
ing it will take, while others have had only a 



The F2Lnctions of Examinations. Selection. 305 

general education, and may Improve much in their 
special line. 

If we must needs decide by a single Examina- 
tion, we can only make a' guess about probable 
improvement, we learn nothing of the direction in 
which the student's mind is moving, and nothing 
of its rate of motion. We see it but at one point. 
If we can test the progress of students as we do 
in a College course, year after year, we learn some- 
thing of their mental changes: some improve in 
grasp of a subject and in general power through- 
out, while some remain stationary, and some de- 
cline. But an Examiner has seldom the oppor- 
tunity of making more than one observation, and 
the testimony of teachers is inadmissible or not to 
be got, and so it will be well to note one or two 
characteristics of the progressive and stationary 
conditions. 

The following symptoms usually indicate a 
progressive condition of the student. We judge 
most favourably when he does steadily well in 
the earlier parts of his subject and shews decided 
excellence now and then, and when, though he 
may be unequal in his performances, his errors do 
not come from unsoundness, or from inertness of 
mind, but from his having struck upon a wrong 
track, or from want of some piece of knowledge, or 
L. .20 



3o6 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

of trained skill in matters which, like composition in 
Classics, require long use. A practised Examiner 
will also mark vivacity in the work as a good 
sign ; a student who feels that he is making way 
is full of hope and spirit, and he ventures with a 
happy audacity on what lies on the very edge of 
his range, or a little beyond. There is an air of 
good will and of force to spare in all he does. 

The stationary or retrogressive condition has 
two varieties ; the dull man may have reached his 
limit, or one who has been pushed on may have 
turned idle. The man who has a misgiving that 
he has eot to the end of his tether shews a chronic 
weariness of his work ; he has gone over his 
books so frequently that he reproduces them 
mechanically, he is living on stored-up knowledge, 
and even his phraseology is found for him by his 
memory, he avoids fresh brainwork, he is quite 
contented with the conventional construings of 
common classical phrases and the recognised me- 
thods of dealing with certain classes of problems. 
If, however, he be given questions of the sort he 
expects, he will make a good show, for he is rapid 
in "writing out" what he knows, and is pro- 
vided with compendious forms : where long prac- 
tice is of value he shows himself expert, but he 
will not encounter what is new to him, and is 
more apt to outflank a difficulty than to face it. 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 307 

The youth who has been pushed forward under 
a strict tutor and who fails afterwards from weak- 
ness of will or moral defects is, like the advancing 
man, unequal in his performances, but in a very- 
different way. His knowledge is disintegrating, 
and those portions last longest which he learnt 
either while quite young, or most lately, or in 
which he has had long practice and some success. 
He may still produce a few good Latin verses, or 
hit 'on a neat solution of a problem, or talk plau- 
sibly on some open question in philosophy ; but 
all knowledge that requires keeping up is falling 
into decay, and he will attempt nothing that re- 
quires steady tension of mind ; he roves daintily 
over the Examination paper and will only touch 
what he has a mind for. 

Another point is this. It is generally ad- 
mitted that power is better shewn by first-rate 
excellence in one or two branches of study than 
by moderate proficiency in many, and those who 
have to dispose of places or emoluments such as 
Fellowships aim most often at securing power; 
hence they set much value on proficiency in one 
department. The evil of this is that as soon as 
a youth shews a turn for Classics, or Mathe- 
matics, or Natural Science, he is made to devote 
nearly his whole time to that study with a view to 

20 — 2 



3o8 The Functions of Exammations. Selection. 



o-alnino-, first some special Scholarship, -and a 
Fellowship afterwards. General education, even 
at the Universities, is at present thrust with some 
contumely into a corner, and attention is concen- 
trated on the production of Classical scholars, or 
Mathematicians, or proficients in some Natural 
Science or in some other special study. In fact teach- 
ino- is now too much directed to the training of prize- 
winners, instead of to the educating of men. This is 
done, not so much because people want savants for 
the sake of their knowledge, as because the attain- 
ment of special excellence is taken as a criterion of 
ability which promises distinction, or because a 
high class is ** a credit to the College." 

The educational effects of this state of things 
only concern us now so far as they render our 
criterion delusive. Special proficiency is only 
trustworthy as an evidence of strength when 
it has been healthily attained. Exclusive culti- 
vation for several years of that branch of study 
for which a student has a particular aptitude is 
injurious to general power in several ways. We 
cannot keep a certain portion of the brain, or 
mind, in special activity, leaving the rest compara- 
tively unexercised, and that from the age of 1 6 to 
2 2, without causing a sort of hypertrophy of this 
part and a starvation of the rest. The consequence 



The Ftinctio7is of Examinations. Selection. 309 

will be that the student will lose the faculty of per- 
forming any mental operations other than those 
which occur in his particular study, and become 
a specialist not only as to acquirement, but as to 
habits of mind ; his thoughts will run in grooves, 
and the value of his judgment on matters of life 
be affected thereby. Moreover, if the student is 
led to believe that there is "no use" in his at- 
tending to any study but that which he has a 
fancy for — if he resent any attempt to make him 
give attention to any subject that lies out of the 
course in which he Is to win his prize, and if when 
forced to do so he will commit to memory what he 
needs must learn, rather than call a new set of the 
mental muscles Into play — then we are encourag- 
ing that habit of mind alluded to by Mr Mill in 
the passage quoted already : we are rearing a 
race incapable of doing anything they do not like. 

I now come to a matter which affords room 
for debate. It being granted that excellence in 
particular subjects serves to show power, some 
subjects may show It better than others. We have 
then the questions, Which show it best, and why ? 

First of all to recur to our old distinction. 
Those subjects are most valuable for our purpose 
which result in an "Art" or capacity. Next to 
these come those, the mastering of which calls 



3IO The FtmctionsofExamiiLations. Selection. 

into play the most important qualities or habits 
of mind, such as imagination, concentration, and 
reasoning power. Again, those subjects in which 
there is a gradation of difficulty as we mount up 
step by step are more effective than those which 
are spread as it were over a plain ; for in these 
last we can only measure the extent of knowledge, 
and one student can travel twice as far as another, 
if only he have twice the time and sufficient 
memory, without possessing higher intellectual 
gifts. A student who knows French can learn 
Italian or Spanish if he have the time without 
needing any greater power than he has already 
shown, and a student may learn the contents of 
half a dozen historical works without calling out 
other faculties than those wanted for mastering 
a single book. The extent of such acquirements 
tests only diligence and retentiveness. 

Mathematics and Natural Philosophy have this 
particular advantage as testing subjects, that ques- 
tions of any degree of difficulty can be given in 
them. In like manner in Classics there are au- 
thors of different degrees of difficulty both in lan- 
euasfe and matter, and in the Moral Sciences 
there are some portions which require more 
abstract conceptions and more reasoning power 
than others; but in History and in some of the 



The FtcncHons of Examinations', Selection. 311 

Natural and the Experimental Sciences there is a 
large extent of matter presenting little variation 
in point of difficulty. If we take up Examination 
papers in a Natural Science we often find that a 
large number of the questions turn on a knowledge 
of facts or on the description of processes. A high 
place in an Examination may possibly be gained 
by answering numerous questions of this descrip- 
tion, but all that it would show would be a fitness 
for becoming a chemist or geologist ; it would not 
show a capacity for attaining distinction in the 
pursuits of active life. 

But there are other reasons why an academi- 
cal Examination in Law, or History, or Moral 
or Natural Science is less effective than one in 
Classics or Mathematics for selecting the persons 
of the greatest general power. The mass of 
educated men have acquired some proficiency in 
the latter studies, while, unless they have some 
special taste, or intend to follow a particular calling, 
they have little or none in the former, and conse- 
quently fewer well-qualified candidates present 
themselves for competition in them. Again it has 
been shewn that to discriminate between degrees 
of ability we must examine the candidates in sub- 
jects which they have fully mastered. Now what 
is learnt of Natural or Experimental Science in 



312 The Functions of Examinations. Selection, 

a University course bears a smaller ratio to the 
whole extent of that science than is the case with 
Classics or Mathematics ; in these a young man 
leaves the University fitted to fulfil any functions 
for which a Classic or Mathematician is wanted, 
and in examining him we can look for close 
acquaintance with the higher parts of those kinds 
of learning; but an undergraduate who has learned 
chemistry or geology or botany has done little 
more than develope an aptitude and lay a foun- 
dation for complete knowledge. To attain to 
this he must spend years in experiment, or in 
travel and observation. There are grand ge- 
neralizations and profound researches lying in 
store for these sciences, and they afford scope 
for the most abstract conception and power of 
systematization ; but these problems lie at the 
extreme ends of the subjects, and cannot be 
dealt with (unless at second hand) except by 
those who have accumulated stores' of facts by 
long-continued investigation. Hence the part of 
these subjects which is best adapted to bring out 
ability is inaccessible to the ordinary University 
student by reason of limited time and opportu- 
nities^. Nevertheless students in these sciences 

•^ Here we see how education may be hampered through rewards given 
by Examinations. The Colleges want men likely to make a figure in life, 
they therefore select them for proficiency in the subjects which afford the 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 313 

may shew enough proficiency to deserve termin- 
able studentships of moderate value. I would 
reserve all higher emoluments (supposing we 
conclude to award such to any not engaged in 
duties) for those who should have displayed 
qualifications in science of a nature not to be 
tested by Examination, or acquired in a merely 
academical course. 

Further, in order that a subject may act effect- 
ively for the kind of discrimination we have in 
view, it should be one in which there is a positive 
right and wrong. When the matter is speculative 
one school of opinions will prevail at one time and 
one at another. The Examiners will lean, or will 
be fancied by the students to lean, to one or the 
other^, and however impartial they may wish to be 

best test of their likelihood of doing so. These emoluments are the main- 
spring of the higher education, and all that does not lead to them is 
neglected. Thus English Literature, which, though excellent for ■ edu- 
cation, is unsuited for competitive examinations, is almost ousted ; as were 
also, until lately, the Natural Sciences, but they have now attained full 
consideration ; indeed, in the I. C. S. Examinations a cursory knowledge of 
them, which is of little educational value, fetches more than it deserves. 

^ Mr Sayce remarks on this point as follows: — " Not very long ago the 
Oxford Class-list in the Final Classical Examination was as much a mo- 
nopoly as the appointments to the Indian Civil Service. It became an 
accepted axiom in the undergraduate world that none but the pupils of a 
certain well-known 'coach' had much chance of getting a first; and when 
the Examiners tried to circumvent him by changing the character of the 
papers, they found themselves no match for the crammer, who had swung 
round from Mill to Herbert Spencer, and from Herbert Spencer to 
Hegel." — Fortnightly Review, June i, 1875. 



314 The Fimctio7ts of JExaminations. Selection. 

this element of suspicion will exist. They have 
also to compare elements which are quite hetero- 
geneous, such as the memory which, rather than 
his clearsightedness, has led one man right, and 
the ingenuity which furnishes another with ex- 
cellent reasons for being wrong. 

Speaking generally, we shall find that those 
studies are most fitted for use in discriminating 
ability which have the best disciplinal effect on 
the intellect and character, that is to say, those 
which call into play the greatest variety of import- 
ant powers and which tend to form the most 
valuable habits of mind. 

The old studies, Classics blended with History 
and Philosophy, and Mathematics with its ap- 
plications to Natural Philosophy, have proved 
their efficacy in this respect after long trial ; 
the public learnt to attach a value to a first class 
at Oxford or a high place among the Wranglers 
at Cambridge, not because they valued the Classics 
or the Dialectics, or the Mathematics, or the 
Natural Philosophy — people had a very dim idea 
of the nature of the studies which led to these 
distinctions — but because they knew that they re- 
presented a liberal education as understood at 
Oxford and Cambridge, and that those who had 
won them often distinguished themselves in life. 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 3 r 5 

The above studies from having been long used 
as the instruments of education have acquired a 
more organised shape than others — teachers have 
learnt how to present them in the form most con- 
venient for obliging the pupil to exercise his wits. 
They are well adapted for " setting lessons in" at 
schools, and are convenient subjects both for 
qualifying and competitive Examinations. 

Some kinds of study, most valuable for mental 
improvement as well as for the account to which 
the matter of them may be turned, are ill-suited 
for scholastic purposes at present, from defects of 
the form in which they are exhibited, and these 
are less adapted than others for testing ability in 
Examinations. 

Fresh subjects may from time to time be put 
into a shape suitable for this purpose. Those 
subjects are most likely to be serviceable in this 
way which, like Political Economy and Roman 
Law, are rigorously derived from a few prin- 
ciples, and which may be applied readily to a 
variety of special cases. 

On the other hand, where the stock of prin- 
ciples is slender, and the mass of facts or opinions 
large — particularly when the facts are discon- 
nected, as they are in parts of English Law, in 
English Etymology, and in " Political Geography," 



3 1 6 The Fttnctions of Exammations. Selection. 

as it is commonly treated, — the subject is less suited 
for use in mental training, and Examinations in it 
will try memory rather than strength of head. 

The attainment, however, of distinction in a 
well-conducted Examination in any branch of sys- 
tematic knowledge, is a guarantee of the pos- 
session of a certain calibre of mind. It shews 
that a person is capable of gathering up his ener- 
gies for a considerable effort, and he must, to do 
w^ell, even in those subjects which are calculated 
to bring out information rather than intelligence, 
possess a good analytical memory, a clear head, a 
wide mental range of view, and a way of doing 
things thoroughly. Hence he may be trusted to 
acquit himself well in any position in which he 
may be placed, more safely than a person who has 
a readiness in picking up what lies near the sur- 
face but who. has not shewn the power of attaining 
any special excellence. The deeper our Exami- 
ation goes, the better it detects a " flimsy" mind. 

It would appear then that, supposing we look 
to proficiency in one branch of study as a criterion 
of general ability, we should rate the efficiency of 
this branch for our purpose by the importance of 
the faculties which it calls into play. But in order to 
settle what studies are most generous and catholic 
in their nature would require a laborious analysis 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection, 317 

of their action on the mind. For practical purposes 
we may get some help by considering them, in 
connection with the kind of interests which they 
awaken, or to which they correspond. 

For a rough classification based on this dis- 
tinction I would sug'o^est the following- : — 

Interests of an intellectual nature are directed 
towards human beings, to other objects, and to 
abstractions. We meet with characters which serve 
as types of the men whose interest gravitates 
to one of these centres of attraction. We may 
find a person whose leading interest is in other 
men. Their doings, their feelings, their institu- 
tions, and their welfare have a strong attraction 
for him, and he cares little for matters in which 
the human element does not appear. If one 
who is the type of this class be travelling abroad, 
he wants to see, not buildings or works of art 
or natural objects, so much as the people them- 
selves, he longs to know something of their ways 
of living and thinking, he is full of human 
sympathy. He may be so wrapped up in his 
interest for persons as to be careless of externa] 
objects. He may have no observation for things; 
he may even be impatient if a companion stops 
to collect wild plants or to examine antiquities. 
The representative of those, whose interest is 



3 1 8 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

for external objects, may care less for history or 
poetry, or politics or sociology than for what strikes 
his eye in the material world; his turn will be 
for Natural Science, for Archaeology or Fine Art. 
Another will revel in contemplating abstractions, 
he will delight in mathematical, or metaphysical, or 
possibly poetical conceptions, and his main interest 
in what he sees, will be, not in the concrete 
objects themselves, but in some law or general 
view which they suggest or exemplify. 

There are branches of learning which answer 
to these several types, some correspond to a single 
one almost exclusively — pure mathematics and 
metaphysics, for instance, to the last — while some 
represent a combination of two such interests, in 
nearly equal degrees. Natural Philosophy, for in- 
stance, combines the element of abstract concep- 
tion with that of observation. Political Economy, 
where it verges on Sociology, combines the abstract 
with the human element. Classical learning 
unites a sympathy with the thoughts and doings 
of great men of old with an appreciation of 
those laws of thought which underlie all human 
language. Some branches of learning embrace 
all the three elements, but in very varying propor- 
tions. There is perhaps hardly any one of them 
in which a person can excel who has no head at 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 319 

all for what is abstract, for we find this element in 
all that is intellectual ; but a man may be wanting 
in sympathies with human beings, and be unobser- 
vant of the external world, and yet be a good lin- 
guist or a great logician or pure mathematician. 

It would carry me beyond my limits to assign 
to every science its place as regards these ele- 
ments. I can merely suggest this way of looking 
at the matter and must leave it to the reader to 
make the application to particular cases. I only 
have to observe that a study which turns ex- 
clusively on a single interest is ill-suited to be the 
sole subject of an Examination, which has for its 
object to enable us to select men suited for the 
work of life. 

The natural philosopher may be too deficient 
in human sympathy ever to deal wisely with other 
men, and the same may be the case with the 
pure linguist — the man whose love is not for the 
literature but for the vocables of a language, and 
who does not care to trace in it the mind or the 
history of the people who framed It. 

Some sciences are spoken of as antagonistic. 
This antagonism is more easy to understand by 
considering the diversity of the interests on which 
they turn than by a more philosophical analysis. 
The sciences which deal with men and those 



320 The Fimdmis of Examinations. Selection. 

which deal with objects are seldom equally 
attractive to the same minds. It is not precisely 
true that there is an opposition between Classics 
and Mathematics. A pure mathematician has 
usually some facility for languages, much more so 
than the physicist. The abstract element in Phi- 
lology is often attractive to him, while a scholar of 
great mental power is seldom incapable of Mathe- 
matics, though his imagination may run more 
toward human beings, with their doings and affec- 
tions, than toward figuring geometrical or physical 
relations in his mind's eye. A naturalist, however, 
or a man of a mechanical and constructive turn 
has often a positive distaste for languages, with 
little love for poetry or literature, and still less for 
ethical philosophy, while men of great literary ta- 
lent have often been singularly inobservant and 
incapable of doing anything with their hands. The 
classical scholar seldom takes a natural science for 
his hobby, while a mathematician often does so. 

If then we wish to know that a man has been 
educated all round, and that he can think clearly 
on other subjects than his favourite one, we ought 
to ascertain that he has, at some time, attained 
a fair proficiency in some stipplementary study. 

The mathematician, for instance, and the stu- 
dent of Natural Science, in order to reach their full, 



The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 321 

free growth, should have gone through some 
Hterary training, and the Classical scholar should 
have been exercised in dealing with physical 
ideas or with some science of observation, which 
may give him eyes. The actual knowledge thus 
acquired will no doubt soon slip away, but 
some conceptions may remain, and even if they 
do not, advantage must accrue from the more 
general development of the faculties, and even 
from the mere survey of a new department of 
learning. The men who indulge the most In con- 
tempt for all learning but their own, are either 
self-educated men, or those who have too narrowly 
followed their own bent with a view to the prizes 
now held out for special acquirements. Of course, 
a reasonable Interval should elapse between heavy 
Examinations In different kinds of study. 

I have before said that it Is Impossible to 
frame an Examination which shall place men in 
order oi ability. We cannot judge with accuracy 
on this point even between candidates who pre- 
sent themselves in the same branch of study. 
Knowledge as well as ability must be a factor of 
the result in any case, but in some subjects one 
factor, and in some the other, will be of the higher 
order. As we pass from place to place down a list 
drawn up in order of merit, we usually find well 
L. 21 • 



32 2 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

marked differences both of ability and knowledge 
between those who occupy successive places near 
the top ; as we go lower down, mere knowledge 
counts for more in comparison with ability, and, 
as the great mass of competitors have read 
pretty much the same books, the variations as we 
pass from place to- place become smaller, till we 
arrive at what may be called the great plateau 
of mediocrity,, where the slope is only just per- 
ceptible. When many candidates are selected out 
of a great body, as in the Examinations for 
the Indian Civil Service and the Army, we go 
down so far th^ this plateau is reached; and 
there is, in fact, no difference worth considering 
between the last ten who are accepted, and the 
first ten who are rejected. 

To conclude this chapter we will glance over 
some of our results. We may rest satisfied that 
a man who gains well-marked success in any 
kind of Examination which deals with subjects 
of considerable difficulty or extent, must have a 
certain kind of power ; he must know what exacti- 
tude means, he must have the faculty of applying 
his mind firmly to a matter and taking off aAd 
retaining a perfect impression. If the Examina- 
tion turns on the knowledge of books, as it must 
in parts of Law, History, and Literature, little else 



The Functions of Exa^ninations. Selection. 323 

beyond the above power will be necessarily dis- 
played, but when an acquiredy^^?^//j/ is brought into 
play, as in Classics, Mathematics, and some other 
branches of study, we see the mind in more 
varied and complete activity, it is no longer 
mainly receptive, it not only gives house room to 
the material it brings together, but it works it up 
into some new product. 

In many branches of learning two or three 
very different faculties are brought into play, a 
Classical Examination for instance often brings 
out the strong contrast that exists between the 
two different types of the scholarly mind : we have 
the pure linguist, who has great imitative capacity, 
who writes Latin and Greek with something of the 
genuine ring, and who will by force of gram- 
matical analysis unravel the sentences of a hard 
piece of reasoning from Aristotle or Plato, so as to 
send up a page of readable English translation 
without very precise notions of what it is about : 
and we may have another who is weaker in 
dealing with words, who has less memory for them 
and is less happy in hitting on the one he wants, 
but who is much stronger in perceiving the. 
relation of ideas. He has enough knowledge of 
the language to make out the general meaning, 
and by steady th^ought one point after another 

2 1 — 2 



324 The Functions of Examinations. Selection. 

will be cleared up, the sequences of the reasoning 
will be established, and the full meaning will 
reveal itself to him. 

If we adopt the system of marks — and if we 
require to classify the candidates we can hardly 
avoid using something of the kind — a high position 
may be due to great linguistic or great logical 
excellence, or to a moderate amount of both. 
Hence if we wanted to discriminate nicely be- 
tween two persons, or if we had to dispose of 
a post for which a person of one or the other 
type were required, it would be necessary to see 
how the marks were obtained. From the system 
of publishing all the marks, which is adopted in 
the case of the Examination for the Indian Civil 
Service, one who understands the relative value 
and action of the several subjects can arrive 
at a far better impression about the qualities of 
the candidates by looking at the items which 
compose their respective aggregates, than by 
looking at the aggregates themselves. I shall 
discuss hereafter the relative advantages of lists 
arranged in order of merit, and alphabetically in 
small classes. 

It may be well to remark that though we 
may fairly infer that a man who has done well 
in an Examination is likely to be an effective 



The Functions of Exa7ninations. Selectio7i. 325 

person, it is by no means safe to conclude that 
no one will turn out to be so who has not done 
well. It is safer to draw 2k. positive than a negative 
augury. Some minds are not ripe till the time for 
examination has gone by, and some intellects of 
great thinking power are of this order. More- 
over a young man's work may, owing to dis- 
turbing causes, not shew all he can do, and when 
a person has to gain his bread by exertion the 
stimulus sometimes calls up qualities which had 
been overlaid by youthful spirits or indulgent 
nurture. But it is by no means to be wished that 
our criterion should be infallible ; it would be bad 
for clever young men to imagine that they had 
been discovered to have been bom for success, 
or for the less gifted to believe that they had been 
pronounced dunces by an irreversible doom. 

When we were considering what were the 
studies success in which might be most safely 
adopted as an indication of the kinds of ability we 
were looking for, we found that we had to guess, 
as well as we could, from an a priori likelihood. 
But it would not be impossible, or even very diffi- 
cult, to get something like statistical information 
on this subject. We may find out what the actual 
facts have been. No doubt we shall have to strip 
off some cases, as exceptional ones, and to apply 



326 The Fimctions of Examinations. Selection. 

corrections for disturbing causes in others, but a 
carefully drawn up table, putting early proficiency 
of particular kinds by the side of the doings of 
after life, might not only reveal something about 
the objects immediately before us in this chapter, 
but might throw light on the conditions most 
favourable to the preservation of mental health. 

If we could see how those who in their youth 
were great classics, mathematicians, or mental 
philosophers, — so far as student greatness goes, — 
bore themselves in the work of their lives, we 
might find in what cases early promise was most 
frequently fulfilled, not only in the way of attain- 
ing advancement, for with this, fortune, family 
and personal address have often much to do, but 
in winning, soon or late, recognition for command- 
ing ability or good service done : some kinds of 
early distinction we might find were more fre- 
quently than others the forerunners of a career of 
usefulness. There are many cases in which men's 
lives are before the public eye, and in such a fuller 
analysis might be possible ; some minds would 
be found to grow, some to dwindle, some, ulti- 
mately, to ossify in a rigid form, some to take 
impression from every passing paradox, some 
to remain plastic and open to fresh ideas while 
retaining the mastery of their judgment to the 



The Fir.ictions of Examinations. Selection. 327 

last. By comparing such results with the nature 
of the early training or early distinctions of the 
individual, we might perhaps learn, that an 
original aptitude for certain kinds of study, and 
the mental exercise involved in such studies, — for 
the two elements would be combined, — were asso- 
ciated in different degrees with lasting activity 
and healthfulness of mind. 

We have University records of academical 
performances for more than a hundred years, and 
if we were to tabulate a great number of cases 
of marked proficiency in different studies, and 
trace the careers of the persons, not neglecting 
the circumstances of their physical, and above 
all their continuance in mental health, we might 
arrive at results which would be of value to 
mental physiologists. Differences of fortune and 
of opportunities would introduce formidable dis- 
turbing causes, but these would be partially elimi- 
nated if we got together a large number of 
cases. I believe that mental physiology will 
one day be recognised practically in education. 
The time may come when certain peculiarities of 
mind maybe recognised as "indicating" or "coun- 
ter-indicating," in medical phraseology, the use 
of certain kinds of mental exertion. A science 
of observation may be prescribed in one case, 



328 The Functions of Examijiations. Selection. 

some study which enforces concentration of atten- a 
tion in another, while one which involves " in- 
trospection " may be strictly prohibited in a third. 
We may even have hereafter a medical branch of 
the educational profession, we may have persons 
who shall make it their business to understand 
mental constitutions, and to advise parents as to 
the course to be followed with youths of peculiar 
or slightly morbid turns of mind. I am aware that 
what I hint at would afford a tempting field for 
quackery, but at the same time I feel sure that 
immense good might be effected by a wise prac- 
titioner who should unite a sound knowledge of 
mental physiology with a practical acquaintance 
with the work of education. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

In this Chapter we have to consider a simpler 
question than that which occupied us in the last. 
Instead of scrutinising what comes before us in 
an Examination to find out what we can of the 
qualities and general ability of those whose work 
is under review, we shall direct our attention to 
the knowledge displayed. We shall regard it as 
a possession valuable to the man himself, and also, 
in many cases, to others who want his services. 
In order to proceed more methodically we have 
supposed first one purpose and then the other to 
be paramount, but we did not debar ourselves in 
the last Chapter from considering the value of 
learning as a constituent of ability : we regarded 
it as a store of mental food required as a pro- 
vision for future mental growth. Neither can we 
in this Chapter consider knowledge apart from 
the intellectual qualities, the possession of which 
is implied in its attainment, or which are brought 



330 Examinations as a Test of Knoiu ledge. 

out in expressing it on paper or in otherwise 
putting it forth. Knowledge only comes before 
an Examiner in very close combination with the 
power of producing it, and I shall in this Chapter 
consider this power as being bound up with, and 
forming part of, the attainment itself. 

The case which in this Chapter I have to deal 
with is this ; — I suppose that we want to ascertain 
the degree of proficiency which those who present 
themselves have reached in particular branches 
of learning, and that we regard this knowledge 
not as a test of diligence or for its effects as 
a mental exercise, but as a good in itself, as an 
acquisition which will render service to the pos- 
sessor or enable him to render service to others. 
This function of Examinations was that for which 
they were first employed. As soon as people 
began to depend for help on the skill or advice 
of those who were supposed to possess certain 
" Arts," it became necessary to find out that these 
acquirements were genuine. Not only in what we 
call the learned professions, but in many other 
"crafts and mysteries" as well, we hear of pro- 
vision for the appointment of "wise and discreet 
persons" who are to examine those who are at the 
end of their apprenticeships. No one could act 
as a pilot, for instance, till he had been pronounced 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 33-T , 

qualified by a board of Examiners in a Court of 
Lode-manage. People would not trust their lives 
or valuable interests to persons for whose qualifi- 
cations they had no security. Hence qualifying 
Examinations grew up to meet a real need. 
In a short time prizes or distinctions were be- 
stowed on those who acquitted themselves best, 
and the competitive element was thereby intro- 
duced. It may be observed that in all such actual 
instances the Examination was combined with 
some definite course of training, the candidate 
was never pronounced fit on the verdict of the 
Examination alone ; neither was this Examina- 
tion open to all comers, howsoever and whereso- 
ever taught. It formed ^e.^nale of a particular 
course of instruction, it strengthened the hands of 
the teacher or master by giving him something to 
hang in terrorem over the idle pupil or appren- 
tice, and it served to detect decided ignorance or 
incapacity. There are many callings which turn 
so much on details that it would be impossible to 
ascertain by one or two Examinations that a 
person was fit for his vocation. There are others 
in which, if an Examination were the sole test 
employed, it would have to be inconveniently 
long, and the candidate should be required to 
answer nearly all the questions. Now we find by 



332 Examinations as a Test of Knomledge. 

experience that a high standard in any sort of 
Examination can only be reached by persons who 
have more than the average caUbre of mind. 
Dull students, however hard they may work, and 
however well acquainted they may be with their 
work in their own way, can never get beyond a 
certain point in Examinations, the talent for 
bringing out what they know, above spoken of, is 
wanting in them ; they are apt to misread or 
overlook questions or to blunder about what they 
know perfectly well. Hence, if we fixed our Ex- 
amination standard as high as would be necessary 
in order to ensure a satisfactory knowledge of a 
professional subject — and this standard would have 
to be higher if we had only one Examination 
than if we had two — we should soon find our- 
selves running short of Professional advisers. 

Our forefathers thought they could secure 
knowledge by authoritative teaching as well as by 
Examination. They accepted the fact that a youth 
had had proper teaching for a proper time as a 
guarantee for his knowing what he wanted. This 
is not worth much by itself, but taken together 
with an Examination of moderate severity it 
furnishes a test of some value which persons of 
moderate ability may satisfy — and by combining 
these two modes of proceeding our forefathers 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. '^'^'}y 

obtained as many persons as they wanted who 
were possessed of passable professional or technical 
skill. 

I dwell upon this, because it illustrates a 
point which bears on the conditions for the 
durability of knowledge. Durability, we find, 
depends in part on the length of time during 
which the matter to be acquired has been kept 
before the pupil's mind; so that if one pupil has 
spent six months over his work, while another has 
been only six weeks at it, though the performances 
of the two in an Examination may be nearly on 
a par, the knowledge of the one who has been 
longest over his work will commonly be of greater 
intrinsic value than that of the other ; in fact, the 
latter should answer half as many questions again 
as the former to represent a knowledge of equal 
value. The practice common at many Universi- 
ties of exacting attendance during a certain time 
at certain courses of lectures depends for justifi- 
cation on this principle. It is supposed that by 
such attendance the knowledge is taken in little by 
little, and that each portion will have had time to 
sink into the mind of the pupil. If these con- 
ditions are fulfilled they will, no doubt, be favour- 
able to the durability of knowledge. That our 
forefathers should from practical needs have been 



3 34 Examinatio7zs as a Test of Knowledge. 

led to adopt the course which our theory would 
suggest, Is a testimony to Its correctness. They 
combined an Examination of moderate difficulty 
with a disclpllnal course of study of considerable 
length, and this we still find to be the most 
expedient course when we require a considerable 
body of fairly qualified practitioners for profes- 
sional needs or of persons fairly versed in any 
kind of learning. 

The Examinations of old times, with the 
exception of certain inspections of schools which 
do not concern us now, were all technical ones, 
using the term in the sense attached to it in 
the first Chapter. All that the Examiners cared 
for was to see that the person examined could 
do what he was going to be paid for; they 
cared nothing for the cultivation of the person 
himself; they certified in fact to the quality of 
particular kinds of skilled labour which were 
brought Into the market. Many professional and 
other Examinations are still necessarily technical. 
These need not particularly occupy our attention 
here, not because they are less Important than other 
Examinations, but because they have already been 
pretty well brought to compass the end they had in 
view. Professional Examiners know exactly the 
requirements of the profession ; they, know exactly 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 335 

what the candidate will have to do with his 
knowledge when he has got it; and they are not 
likely to be taken in by mere book knowledge 
got up for the purpose of an Examination alone. 
Moreover the students they have to deal with, 
the better sort at least, look beyond the Exami- 
nation, when that is over they will not have done 
with their knowledge, they have to win their 
bread by it, and though they may, and often do, 
look too .narrowly to what will be of immediate 
use in practice, yet, on the whole, they are willing 
students. Another consideration relieves us from 
the great difficulty of all — the question of the 
durability of the knowledge. Professional students 
cannot forget any considerable proportion of what 
they have had to learn, because they have to use 
it every day of their lives. This observation how- 
ever only applies to those portions of their Ex- 
aminations which bear directly on practice. In 
most Professional Examinations, we find certain 
subjects included which are valuable because they 
force the student to take a broader view of the 
province of his labour than he could catch from 
the confined path which, at starting, he has com- 
monly to follow, or because they equip him with 
the requisites for exploring new tracts, or for 
dealing with the philosophy of his subject. Such 



■^''6 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 



00 



studies are Roman Law, Jurisprudence, and Inter- 
national Law, in the legal career; Botany, Mecha- 
nics, and some parts of Chemistry, in the medical 
profession. These studies are not kept bright by 
use in practice, and the student cannot see that 
they will help him on ; they will not bring him 
briefs or patients, or enable him to do his routine 
work with more ease ; and so it not unfrequently 
happens that he learns them wifh as much indif- 
ference and forgets them with as much alacrity as 
if he were a non-professional student who had to 
qualify himself in certain "liberal" studies for a 
pass Examination. 

These parts then of the Professional Exami- 
nations belong to general education, and our 
remarks on the danger of artificial Examination 
knowledge taking the place of real knowledge, and 
of that which is flimsy and fading passing itself 
off as solid and indelible will therefore apply to 
them. 

In the Examinations employed in liberal edu- 
cation, three purposes are carried on simultane- 
ously, we usually want to learn three things about 
the candidate, and the Examiner mentally, if not 
actually, assigns to him credit on each separate 
score; we want to gauge his ability in the way 
spoken of in the last Chapter; we also want to see 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 337 

what he knows, and often we want to give a 
sanction to some course of teaching and to as- 
certain that the student has gone through the 
processes of thought, which the educator intended 
him to perform. 

We are only concerned here with the testing 
of knowledge, and with such knowledge as can 
be made useful to society, or which affords a 
sensible addition to a person's intellectual wealth. 

This limitation must be borne in mind : for a 
dull person may be learning all his youth long, 
and may get considerable good from the process, 
and yet may have nothing to shew — nothing that 
we can measure — at the end of the time. What 
he does learn is how to get up on occasion what 
he wants, and to use such wits as he has to the 
best purpose. He may turn out useful for many 
positions, and yet he may possess nothing that can 
be called an acquirement. The brain gets indeed 
a little tinged with what runs through it ; most 
kinds of study, even with stupid pupils, leave 
traces which are of some good to the learner, 
but it is seldom that any one kind is sufficiently 
mastered to be made of use to other people, 
unless it is kept in exercise by coming into the 
business of life. As I said in speaking of the 
Mathematical Tripos, with the higher class of 
L. 22 



338 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

students the value of the knowledge itself is great, 
and often outweighs that of the training, while 
with the duller sort of students, nearly the whole 
good of education comes from its giving, them 
the use of their brains. Some subjects leave 
much more behind them than others, but in 
general, unless the knowledge is kept up, it soon 
ceases to be available for actual use, and only- 
serves for the general culture of its possessor. 

The Examiner in the matter now before us 
will have three things to do. 

(i) He must find out how much the can- 
didate has learnt, how thoroughly he knows it, 
and how readily he can apply his knowledge. 

(2) He must consider how far the sort of 
knowledge which he discovers is of the kind 
wanted for the purpose in view. 

(3) He must judge of the durability of the 
acquirement — that is, how long the possessor is 
likely to retain it. 

I shall consider each of these heads in order. 

I. Attainments may be grouped in two classes 
corresponding to the distinction we have so often 
drawn. One, comprising those subjects the know- 
ledge of which yields a practical faculty, and which 
for shortness we may call ''Art subjects," and the 
other those from which no such accomplishment 



Exa7ninations as a Test of Knowledge. 339 

results. What is submitted to the Examiner by 
the student in the one case is a specimen of the 
skill acquired through a process of learning ; in 
the second he produces portions of information 
which he has derived from books or teaching, 
and has put by in his head, arranged for use with 
more or less method. 

It is much easier to ascertain what a person 
really knows in the case of an "Art subject" than 
in that of subjects of the other description. We 
can set the classical student to translate Greek 
or render English into Latin, just as we could 
give the musician a violin and call on him to play. 
There is no room here for "cramming," and we 
can judge of the order of his accomplishments as 
a whole, from a few specimens. But the know- 
ledge which is of the character of information 
is different in this respect. 

If we want to find out how far a person knows 
History or Geography, we can only judge by the 
answers he gives to questions on a few points, 
hence we have to form our estimate of the value 
of the cargo by the quality of a few samples, the 
cargo not necessarily being equally good through- 
out, and these samples must therefore be selected — 
that is to say, the questions will have to be framed 
— with great care. 

22 — 2 



340 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

Returning to the first-named class of subjects, 
we find that we have comparatively little difificulty. 
Examinations properly conducted, whatever else 
they may be meant to effect, must show in what 
degree the "Art" is possessed. If the workman 
displays the skill we want, we need not trouble 
ourselves how it was come by. If we want a 
good Greek scholar to teach the language or to 
edit an author, we can ascertain by trial whether 
a candidate has the requisite knowledge ; it does 
not matter how this knowledge was got, it must 
be genuine, no "crammer" can "veneer" a person 
with the power of writing Greek Prose: if he can 
give it to him by a short way so much the better. 
When we find the Greek good we need look no 
further. 

I assume that the Examination is extensive 
enough to test acquaintance with authors of dif- 
ferent degrees of difficulty, and that it does not 
turn upon " set subjects ;" for these latter afford 
no criterion of knowledge of the language, al- 
though they may be of service in education, and 
a close acquaintance with a great work in its 
original language is an addition to a man's men- 
tal wealth. The branches of Mathematics which 
abound in operations are, so far, "■ Art subjects," 
and the above remarks apply also to them. 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 341 

Whether the Examination be framed mainly 
for educational purposes, as in School or College 
Examinations, or with a view to pick out the 
person who gives the greatest promise of dis- 
tinction, it will, if good of its kind, serve to test 
the range of the knowledge. It may go beyond 
what we want, but it will answer our end. 
We may make sure, for instance, that a mathe- 
matician is familiar with his subject without calling 
on him to solve hard problems in a very limited 
time, as we do when we want to test his power 
and ingenuity, or to produce long demonstrations 
which for educational reasons we may want to 
know that he has mastered. But Examinations 
which involve these must bring out knowledge 
of mathematics, as well as ability and training. 
It may, however, obstruct the advance of the 
student to the more important parts of his science 
to be forced to prepare for a display of ingenuity, 
and so, if our view be solely to promote or to test 
acquisition, we should frame our Examination in 
a suitable way. 

I now only give very general directions as to 
the best mode of effecting this, because when 
the object is clearly understood. Examiners soon 
find the way to attain it. 

I have spoken in the fourth Chapter of an 



342 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

Examination which might be held in the highest 
branches of Mathematics in order to test advanced 
knowledge, such as would be required by persons 
intending to pursue mathematical science — these 
Examinations would be instances of the kind I 
am now contemplating. It would soon be found 
that the papers given in such Examinations as- 
sumed a style very different from that of those set 
in the ordinary Examinations which are directed to 
finding out the pupil's ability and his adherence 
to the prescribed course of study, as well as his 
actual knowledge. 

When we come to what I may call informa- 
tion subjects, a point or two must be noticed. 
Every subject of Examination of course com- 
prises positive information in some degree, so 
that the term ''Art subjects" must be only under- 
stood to mean those in which a faculty of doing 
something results from the knowledge which is 
possessed. The classical scholar may not know 
the meaning of some word or idiom, and the want 
of this piece of information may prevent his trans- 
lating the passage. This brings us to the first 
point that I have to consider, which is the rela- 
tive importance of different kinds of information. 
Some are spread through the whole mass of a sub- 
ject, others are isolated matters embedded in it. 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 343 

For instance, the scholar's ignorance of a very 
unusual word does not disclose to us ignorance of 
anything else ; but if he mistake the meaning of a 
common idiom or of a legal term of frequent oc- 
currence in Latin, he cannot have an intelligent 
acquaintance with Latin Literature or History. 

Many subjects contain both principles and facts; 
the first take time to grasp, but when grasped 
they constitute an abiding possession. Take 
Political Economy for example. It requires some 
thought to get clear conceptions about Capital, 
Cost of Labour, Rent, and the like ; a person taking 
up the book casually and beginning the chapters 
so headed would not understand them. But some 
parts of the subject consist of facts: the history of 
the Bank of Amsterdam for instance, or the ac- 
count of the Metayer system, — and these any 
educated person could comprehend on first read- 
ing them. The Examiner then must give far 
more importance to questions on principles than 
to those on facts, in order to estimate properly the 
cost and the utility of the knowledge. 

In History, the framework of events answers 
in some degree to a principle. If this strtcctural 
portion be unsound, the whole fabric will be in a 
tottering state, but there are certain parts which, if 
they should decay or be faulty, may be removed 



344 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

and replaced — like a decorative statue in a niche 
of a wail — without injury to the whole. 

Thus questions on the concatenation of circum- 
stances or the spread of influences, or the general 
position of affairs at a certain time, should carry 
much more weight, than those which could be 
answered in a few words by turning to a book 
of reference. Even in order to use such a book to 
good purpose, a person must have an idea of the 
skeleton of his subject, and this cannot be got 
in a moment; when he has obtained this, he can 
build up the body of his knowledge, if only he 
knows where to find the information he needs. 

For instance, a person unacquainted with the 
History of France, hearing Cardinal Mazarin men- 
tioned, turns to a Biographical Dictionary, that he 
may learn "all about him" — but there he finds 
himself entangled with "the Pope," whose name 
is perhaps not given, with Anne of Austria, of 
whom he knows nothing, and with the wars of 
the Fronde, which he has never heard of, so that 
he is no wiser when he shuts the book than he 
was when he opened it. One who had got a 
structural skeleton of French History in his head 
would gather from the article just what he wanted. 

Some parts of all knowledge must be built up 
by ourselves for ourselves, while there are others 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 345 

which, like articles of furniture, can be purchased 
and put in their proper places whenever we please. 
Questions on particulars of this sort should be 
sparingly set by the Examiner, both because they 
are of little service in helping him to assign its 
value to the student's knowledge, and also for a 
reason belonging to the. next head — because they 
call into existence a special variety of knowledge 
adapted more for Examinations than for use. 

As a practical rule, the Examiner is more 
likely to set suitable papers for the purpose we 
have now in view, when he sets them ^^oiU of his 
head'' than when he takes certain books and picks 
out questions from them. Besides, in order to set 
the paper from what he has in his head he must 
be full of his subject. This is a guarantee of his 
qualifications, and what has endured in his own 
mind is likely to belong to that more structural 
part of the fabric, which I have spoken of 

But questions which can be answered in a 
word or two are easy to frame and save trouble in 
the looking over, and such is now the pressure put 
upon Examiners, that they are forced to econo- 
mize labour. They can hardly possess enough 
floating knowledge to furnish all the papers 
required, and they therefore take their questions 
sometimes out of books, selecting points which 



34^ Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

are perhaps isolated, and which belong to that part 
of knowledge which the student does not require 
to carry always about with him. Teachers begin 
to complain of the papers set in some educational 
Examinations as encouraging students to trust to 
the "Portative Memory" instead of assimilating 
knowledge. If Examiners were to draw the bulk 
of their questions from their own fund of knowledge 
without using books except for reference, the 
value of their Examinations, both as a test of 
attainment and as an educational appliance, would 
be greatly increased. 

Answers that are erroneous throw much light 
on the state of a student's knowledge. 

When a candidate's answer is wrong, he com- 
monly receives no marks for that particular ques- 
tion, but the nature of the blunder may be such as 
to show that his conceptions are wrong altogether, 
or that he cannot be said to have any conceptions 
at all, right or wrong, upon the matter; in this 
case, those of his answers in this subject that 
happen to be correct will not indicate knowledge 
of any value, but only the recollection of the words 
of some manual, and no credit should be given 
for them. 

Again, various sciences of experiment and 
observation are now made the subjects oi paper 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 347 

Examinations. Such Examinations are never 
quite satisfactory, but if the student answer nearly- 
all the questions rightly, this will shew a valu- 
able knowledge of his science. When, however, 
a student gets only a small proportion of the 
marks, — 150 marks for instance out of 500 in 
Geology, — this does not Indicate knowledge of any 
practical value at all. If we were to show such 
a student a piece of domite, he would probably 
call it chalk ; he has never made out how the 
strata lie in a district, and does not know how 
to set about it ; what he has learnt is the nomen- 
clature of the science out of a manual. The 
geological student should know this nomenclature, 
but its value lies in its being applied further 
on ; and if the student do not go far enough 
•to use it, he might as well have learnt a page 
or two out of Johnson's Dictionary. Hence no 
credit whatever should be allowed on the score of 
acquirement for scanty knowledge of a subject of 
this nature displayed on paper. If a candidate 
can perform even a few practical processes, or 
identify specimens in branches of Natural History, 
he may claim some credit. An aggregate made up 
by a few marks in several subjects shews no 
knowledge, but rather dissipation of mind. 

When it is not the purpose of the Examina- 



34^ Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

tion to test acquirement the case is different. For 
instance, in examining with an educational view, 
we must recollect that with beginners, knowledge 
comes, not steadily, not advancing as it were in 
line, but by patches — a bit here and there becomes 
bright, and the brightness may spread over the 
whole field of view. Hence, in such cases, the 
Examiner will be less ready to pronounce that all 
is dark because he comes on a very bad blunder. 
But in an Examination, which is regarded as final, 
and to show that a candidate possesses acquire- 
ments of service to himself or to others, know- 
ledge which stops short of the fruit-bearing 
stage should not be allowed to count for any- 
thing at all. When we regard the possessor of 
knowledge as a skilled labourer we require a 
certain completeness of skill. Knowledge, in 
order to have any exchangeable value, must be 
tolerably perfect in its own department : the 
foundations of edifices are not marketable at all. 

But in education the case is different ; we give 
credit then for mental training. The plan of allow- 
ing marks in proportion to knowledge is quite 
justifiable on edtuational grounds, because a pupil 
must have used his wits a little to have learnt 
a single book of Euclid; and even the elements of 
Latin or French Grammar are worth something 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 349 

as scaffolding, supposing that tjie owner is going 
on to build. Even if the learner at the end 
know but little, he may not have lost his pains — 
he may have got clearer conceptions and more 
of them, as well as a better use of his faculties, 
from the discipline he has gone through. 

II. I now come to the second of the purposes 
which the Examiner has in view, that of ascertaining 
that the knowledge which has been acquired is of 
the sort which will be wanted in the position the 
candidates hold, or be valuable to them as a per- 
sonal possession. 

When Examiners have to test the qualification 
of candidates for admission to the Professions or 
to appointments — as in the case of the Further 
Examination for the Indian Civil Service — they 
understand exactly the duties which will have to 
be performed and have only to adhere to a general 
rule which may be stated as follows : 

Examinations employed to test the value of 
acquirements should turn on the exercise of these 
acquirements as much as possible in the way in 
which they are employed in actual practice. 

Of late it has become necessary to examine in 
some subjects of a practical kind, which it is 
difficult to treat in the way indicated by our rule. 
Examinations framed like those employed in 



350 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

education have been introduced. We are in 
consequence driven to examine on paper in sub- 
jects which, in a great degree, turn on acquaint- 
ance with objects or experiments. Instead of 
performing an experiment himself before the 
Examiners, the pupil describes on paper the way 
to do it, and this description comes out of a book. 
The consequence is that the "book-work" element 
in many subjects has been made unduly prominent. 
Thus students reading for an Examination may 
get one aspect of some studies, and those who 
pursue the studies for use in the business of life 
may get altogether another. Indeed, it is possi- 
ble that the student who has passed his Exami- 
nation may have to begin again, and learn his 
subject in a different way when he wants to make 
use of it. 

An instance of this occurred when Civil Engi- 
neers for the Indian Service were selected by 
competitive Examination. Those came to the 
front who were "well up" in the text-books, and 
had a facility in solving a certain kind of Mathe- 
matical problems. The Engineer, in the course 
of a series of great works of construction, might 
have to address himself to half-a-dozen of such 
problems, but, in the Examination, success turned 
mainly on a facility in solving them, an^ on the 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 351 

power of reproducing text-books. In actual service 
the Engineer would take these books with him, and 
all he would want would be to recollect where to 
turn for what he needed ; hence what was wanted 
for Examination differed from what was wanted in 
practice. Moreover, in the course of an Examina- 
tion of a few days it was impossible to see with 
what handiness each candidate could use a theodo- 
lite or how he could lay down a map ; much less 
was it possible to ascertain whether he knew good 
materials from bad ones, or had an eye for the 
capabilities or difficulties offered by a line of 
country, or the power of estimating the amount 
of work in an undertaking. In consequence the 
men sent out, selected by competition, were often 
found to be useless, and the evil was remedied 
by recurring ta the sound practice of providing 
a special course of instruction and using Exami- 
nations along with it as a sanction for the teach- 
ing. The establishment of the very successful 
College at Cooper's Hill has met this difficulty. 

In Germany, as I am told, the Examination 
employed falls in with the rule I have laid down. 
The students have not only studied at a Poly- 
technic school, but they are called on afterwards 
to do exactly what they will have to do In their 
profession — they are directed to prepare plans and 



352 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

specifications for a line of railway or a canal or 
for drainage works in the neighbourhood of their 
place of study, and are allowed three months to 
do it in ; they are examined in the text-books and 
scientific parts of the subject during their course 
of instruction from time to time. 

But it is not only in technical subjects that 
the Examiner has to distinguish knowledge 
available for use, from edttcational, and from arti- 
ficial knowledge. Many subjects comprised in a 
liberal education may be studied in a different way 
for an Examination from that in which they 
would be learned, if only wanted for the student's 
own use ; but the knowledge is not the worse on 
that account, if the Examination be framed on 
sound educational principles. A person who 
learns what he wants simply for his private use, 
may look too narrowly to his immediate pur- 
pose. Gibbon tells us that he originally picked 
up Greek only to enable him to get at the con- 
tents of Greek books, and he found that his 
knowledge of the language was, in consequence, 
very inaccurate ; and persons who only learn a 
modicum of mathematics for purely practical pur- 
poses, for navigation for instance, are thrown out 
by any case that deviates from the normal type, 
and work with an uneasy sense of the insecurity 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 353 

of their footing. Thus study may be cramped 
by too exclusive a regard to practical use, just as 
it is by looking to Examinations. 

By educational or student knowledge I mean 
such as may not be in itself effective, but which 
will serve as a basis for real knowledge: by 
artificial knowledge I mean that which is only 
fabricated for Examination purposes. There is less 
chance of meeting with this in some subjects than 
in others, least of all in the case of languages. 
For every one who learns a language, wants to be 
able to read it, write it, and speak it, the very acts 
he is called on to perform in Examinations ; and 
though if it is thought necessary, in University 
phrase, " to separate the men," crabbed passages 
may be picked out and an artificial kind of reading 
thereby encouraged, still enough that is whole- 
some must be learnt to make the student's know- 
ledge profitable for use. 

With some mathematical subjects the case is 
rather different ; for the object of them may be 
to enable the student to work out practical pro- 
blems or to proceed to higher investigations, and 
if he cannot make these practical applications of 
theorems and does not go on to higher investiga- 
tions, then we have an article produced for Exa- 
minations only. Some educational advantage, may 

L. 2X 



354 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

have accrued from the study, but the know- 
ledge, looked at with a view to usefulness, is 
not what we want. A student, for instance, may 
"write out" Trigonometrical theorems, and yet 
be far from at home in using logarithmic tables, 
or in applying what he has read, to the problems 
that would actually arise in surveying. He 
may have got up his " De Moivre's Theorem" 
without any idea of what it helps people to do ; or 
he may have learned his Lunar Theory, and have 
no notion of how it is to be applied to form 
Lunar tables, or of how the " coefficients" in 
his expressions are deduced from observations. 
Hence if an Examiner would satisfy himself 
that a candidate's knowledge is of value for 
scientific purposes, he must make sure that he 
knows on what experiments or observations 
his science rests, how they are performed, and, 
above all, that he can make use of his knowledge 
when he has got it. To effect this he must in- 
troduce some questions of a different character 
from those usually set in competitive Examina- 
tions, and it may be necessary to allow students 
under Examination to have access to Mathemati- 
cal Tables or other books of reference, with the 
use of which they ought to be familiar. 

Rapidity of production is not wanted in the 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. " ^ 



^d:) 



case of knowledge that is acquired for use and 
not for display; hence the student should not 
be set to write against time, nor should problems 
be proposed to him which do not aim at bringing 
out correctness of apprehension, or the power of 
applying knowledge. Ingenious puzzles may be 
of service in detecting cleverness, but they do 
not test what I am now supposing the Examiner 
to be concerned to discover. 

The most difficult subjects to deal with in 
Examinations are the literary ones ; of these the 
pfood comes less from what we recollect of the 
matter, than from the images formed, and the 
trains of thought set going and carried out in 
our own minds. History, and the Literature of 
our own and of foreign countries, are in this 
condition, and will serve for instances of the class 
of subjects I am speaking of. 

The main use of such subjects Is for the pupil 
himself ; but some of them have also a practical 
side. For instance, we may want to find a 
person to edit old authors or historical papers 
or to write articles for an Encyclopaedia, and 
then, an Examination might be employed to 
tell us where to look for people provided with 
the apparatus of learning required. The sort of 
knowledge wanted for this purpose Is just what 



3 5*5 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

an Examination can easily be made to test. 
We do not need comprehensive views, or the 
wisdom which should result from study, we only 
want to see that a person knows Jiis way adotit 
the old authorities, that he can read the lanofuasfe 
in which they are written, and knows what credit 
to assign to their statements. We want, in fact, 
a man whose mind is an index-map of the sub- 
ject, and who is also an adept in Palaeography. 

We are here dealing with the technical side 
of the study ; we do not consider whether the 
individual is benefited by knowing the Latin of 
the tenth century, or the dialects of the earliest 
forms of other European languages, or by being 
able to read the handwriting of the middle ages. 
We regard these kinds of knowledge as tools, and 
we are looking out for one who can use them. 

But to leave this special sort of Historical 
knowledge and to turn to what is generally 
understood by the name, we have to consider 
whether a student reading with a desire for 
his own improvement would study in the same 
way as if he were reading for Examination. 
We shall find some differences in the mode of 
proceeding. A person reading for Examination 
w^ll have to note details and to acquaint himself 
with the terms of Statutes, Proclamations, and 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 357 



Constitutions, where the ordinary reader would 
be content with their general purport, and he must 
be familiar with dates and genealogies. So far 
the sttident knowledge required for Examination 
only differs from that which would be acquired 
by a person reading for his own improvement, 
in being fuller and more minute; but . the main 
difference between the two cases is one of 
spirit. A student who is ''getting up" an histo- 
rical book keeps his thoughts to his task, he will 
not follow suggestions which lead him off it. If 
of a discursive tendency, he is the better for 
being thus tied down, but the knowledge he gets 
savours of the 'lesson.' He is always asking 
himself whether he remembers what he has read, 
and perhaps he frames questions for himself as he 
goes on. The matured reader notes his facts for 
future reference, keeps his brains free for think- 
ing, and gladly treasures up the thoughts which 
come into his head as he reads. 

Examinations belong naturally to education, 
and they fling an educational hue on all that comes 
under their influence. To prepare for an Examina- 
tion in History the student must go over his work, 
pen in hand, with maps and tables of chronology. 
This is admirable discipline, but it belongs to edu- 
cational study ; it makes the well-informed youth, 



3 5 S Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

rather than the wise man ; nothing but self-culture 
can give an eye for grouping events in due sub- 
ordination, or a mind peopled with historical cha- 
racters. Students, however, would do well to get 
this educational knowledge, even if Examinations 
did not exist, for its intrinsic value as well as for 
discipline. It is not artificial, it is genuine as 
far as it goes; it is that part of knowledge which 
can be communicated by a teacher, as distin- 
guished from that which grows up slowly and is 
fed by observing, reading and thinking. In many 
other cases we shall come to this same conclu- 
sion, viz. that our ordinary Examinations test 
student knowledge well enough, but tell us little 
about that of the savant. Happily the latter is 
not in danger of being long overlooked ; first-rate 
excellence in any department of learning is sure 
enough to find a field for display in time. 

There is, however, a sort of knowledge 
of history which is got up to be "written out;" 
which does not come from reading authors — for a 
good author can never be read without profit — 
but from compendia and tutorial help; and this 
is artificial, in our sense of the word — it is 
acquired for use in Examinations only. The 
essence of history lies in its being a chain of 
events ; but the examinee sometimes resembles 



Examinalions as a Test of Knowledge. 359 

one who is in possession of a handful of the li7tks 
of the chain, only they are all loose in his pocket. 
This may properly be called "cram." These links 
are scraps of information sometimes given by 
tutors, or taken down in Lectures, or '' got up " 
from a note-book borrowed from a friend, or 
looked out in a manual the day before. The}' 
consist of "short accounts" of "leading events," 
and of " brief notices " of " eminent personages." 

An Examiner can hardly set a paper so as 
to give no opening for such scraps of information. 
But when a candidate picks out a date from one 
question, and a name or leading event from an- 
other, but treats no matter as a whole, and there is 
no appearance of there being any framework of 
knowledge in his head — anything to fit his isolated 
facts into — then whatever be his aggregate of 
marks, the value of his knowledge is nothing. 

There is another kind of spurious knowledge 
of a more ambitious description. It consists of 
what may be called ready-made "views." The 
student is always ready with an opinion on the 
leading questions of history, but he has never 
formed an opinion in his life, " The tendencies 
of events " and *' the influences of principles " 
are described in tutorial manuscripts and given 
to pupils. An Examiner will be on his guard 



360 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge, 

when he meets with stupendous wisdom, or patches 
of reflection in a different style from the rest of 
the pupil's work. 

I would recommend as part of an Examination 
for testing the possession of historical knowledge, 
as I did for the testing of ability, that dissertations 
should be composed on given subjects, and that 
the student should have access while writing 
to the necessary books of reference and to original 
authorities. By so doing we should conform to 
our rule. We should see how the student can 
use his knowledge for the purposes for which it 
is properly intended, and should free him from 
artificial conditions. 

English Literature is, above all, the sub- 
ject in which Examinations have called a par- 
ticular kind of study into existence. A person 
who has read much, and enjoyed his reading, 
would often be puzzled if he were asked what he 
had to show for his knowledge — many happy 
hours, and a mind rendered alive to many interests, 
he would indeed be conscious of- — but this good is 
not of a kind to be tested in any Examination. 
Yet a well-read man carries a certain superiority 
about him, and when we are weighing the ad- 
vantages of competitors, we must give its proper 
weight to this superiority; hence we may be 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 361 

obliofed to examine in Literature if we want to 
give credit for all intellectual acquirements ; and 
we are also forced to examine in it on educa- 
tional grounds, because a subject which is not 
represented in Examinations gets squeezed out 
of sight. 

I believe it to be impossible to frame a 
competitive Examination in the entire range 
of English Literature, which shall not favour 
the growth of artificial knowledge, and for this 
reason, that a person may be a well-read man 
and have derived o^reat advantages from his 
reading, and yet not be able to produce any par- 
ticular knowledge; and on the other hand, a man 
may learn many things about books, and may 
commit many scraps to memory and get marks 
in Examinations, and yet obtain no good from 
this knowledge worth mention. 

When a paper of questions has to be framed 
on English Literature, the Examiner is driven 
to the History of Literature. He can ask for 
an account of authors and their works, and 
the variations of different editions, as also for 
information about the hard passages, for the 
context of familiar quotations, and for the names 
of the plays of Shakespeare in which certain 
characters occur. But these quotations, etc., are 



362 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge, 

matters which might be the accompaniments of the 
knowledge of a well-read person, but they would 
not constitute the gist of his knowledge itself; 
they would in no way represent the good he had 
got by his reading. If he wanted such informa- 
tion he would know where to look for it, and this 
would serve his turn. 

But when Examinations were applied to this 
subject, these shreds and patches of knowledge 
were found to have great exchangeable value : 
they afforded the simplest and readiest questions. 
Whether a student entered into the spirit of a 
play of Shakespeare we could not find out. But 
we could set questions about the explanation of 
allusions and grammatical peculiarities, or on the 
sources from which the plays were taken, and the 
changes made in subsequent versions. When this 
subject was first Introduced, such knowledge could 
only be obtained by something approaching to re- 
search, or from a lecturer who had got together all 
there was to say on the subject. A student could 
then hardly know these little niceties except by 
being a literary person : they served as symptoms 
of something better. Now, however, all for which 
lecturers formerly used to refer pupils to autho- 
rities is found in the school-books ; and what is 
meant by "English Literature," as far as com- 



Examinations as a Test of K^towledge. '^6'}^ 

petitions go, consists mostly of the reproduction 
of footnotes and manuals. 

If people must be examined for such compe- 
titions in English Literature an Essay to be written 
with access to authorities is the best course that 
I can suggest. Educational Examinations on 
specified books or on epochs of Literature may be 
most serviceable, but then such Examinations 
must be connected with some particular course of 
Instruction. Educational Examinations are meant 
to show that the student has made his own what 
he has been told in Lectures or has been directed 
to read, while the Open Examination Is a mart 
for knowledge brought from any quarter, and in 
this case no particular kind of teaching can be 
presupposed. 

III. I now come to the important point of 
the permanency of knowledge. Examinations 
shew us the state of the pupil's acquirements 
at a certain time. The question then arises — 
what judgment can we form as to how long 
this state will last ? Our conclusion must be 
uncertain If it be based on Examination only, but 
least so in the case of what I have called "Art 
Subjects." For the knowledge to have borne as 
its result a power of doing something, it must 
have been assimilated, and as assimilation re- 



364 Examinations as a Test of Kjiowledge. 

quires time, it must have been present to the 
pupil's mind for a long time: thus one condition 
required for permanence is secured (see page 333). 

About "Art Subjects," then, I need only make 
two remarks, (i) The durability increases with 
the thoroughness of the knowledge, and in a 
higher ratio, that is to say, if A knows twice as 
much as B, A's knowledge will last, not only 
twice, but three or four times as long as B's. 
Here our judgment turns on what the Examina- 
tion can shew, viz. the perfectness of the know- 
ledge. (2) The more labour the mind has under- 
gone in connexion with the subject, the deeper the 
impression will generally be engraved on it. 

Knowledge which is imbibed unconsciously, 
such as the French or German picked up from 
conversation, soon disappears ; it depends on ear, 
and when the ear ceases to supply the phrase 
required, the learner is unable to put one together. 
To arrive at a probable estimate, therefore, of the 
durability of knowledge, even in the case of these 
"Art Subjects," it is necessary to take into account 
the mode in which the knowledge has been ob- 
tained. 

With regard to subjects learned for the in- 
formation they furnish, the case is more com- 
plicated. 



Examinatio7is as a Test of Knowledge. 365 

Few people are aware how completely a small 
quantity of such knowledge disappears, especially 
if, when after being poured out in an Examination, 
it is thought to be "done with." When men of 
learning frame schemes for general Examina- 
tions, such as those in the University of London, 
each savant is likely to urge the introduction of 
his own science. For the University to ignore, 
as it is called, a branch of knowledge, that is 
to say, to omit it from the Examinations, is to 
give an opening for attack to its adversaries. No 
educated man, it will be said, should be ignorant of 
this or that science: this may be so, but an Exa- 
mination does not ensure such knowledge ; where 
bits of eight or nine subjects are taken in at once to 
an Examination, the traces of them left in the 
pupil's mind at the end of a month will be hardly 
worth considering. All that the Examination tells 
us for certain is, that those who have passed have 
been able to carry in their heads for a short time 
a certain quantity of matter out of a book. We 
may extract answers in English History, Physical 
Geography and Moral Philosophy, and may boast 
of the broad character of our system, but to sup- 
pose that the successful candidate necessarily 
knows something about these subjects is a delu- 
sion ; all that we have found out is, that he has 



366 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge, 

been able to "get up" so many subjects for Exa- 
mination, and that he could therefore probably 
"get up" these same again, or different ones, 
if he should require to do so. 

I shall now note some of the circumstances 
which are favourable for the retaining of what is 
learnt. 

I. The first requisite for remembering a 
matter is that it shall have made strong im- 
pression, and that this impression shall have had 
time to fix itself. 

We recollect that best which it took pains 
and time to learn. What we get by being simply 
told is soon forgotten — the student who finds all 
his work done in a translation, and uses it, not to 
see whether he has made the passage out correctly, 
but to avoid having to make it out at all, learns 
nothing. What we puzzle out for ourselves re- 
mains by us longest; that which is explained by a 
tutor before we feel the difficulty soon goes. Hencs 
it is that the reading of solutions of problems is of 
so little value compared with the working of them 
for ourselves. In fact, in this case, as in most 
others, no possession of value is to be got without 
corresponding effort, and to get what is of lasting 
good we require sustained exertion. 

2. The frequent recovery of an idea is what 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. ^Sj 

seems to grave it most deeply in the mind ; the 
process of recalHng it seems to clear out the 
tracings on the cerebrum which might be filling 
up, and our memory gets a fresh date to start from. 
Hence a system of Examinations which obliges a 
student often to review his old stock of knowledge 
helps much to confirm him in the possession of it 
5.( As long as we think that we are likely 
to want a certain kind of knowledge, we keep 
it, often without being aware of it, stored in 
our mind, and it ripens by " unconscious cere- 
bration." ) In the intervals between visiting a 
foreign country we may almost drop the language, 
but if our knowledge of it have taken root, we 
may find on our return that after a while we speak 
it better than before. Mathematical and other 
scientific conceptions also work themselves clearer 
in this way, even without conscious study, pro- 
vided the conditions required for this unconscious 
ripening are observed. The first of these is that 
we should not feel that we have done with the 
subject for ever. When we experience this sen- 
sation, — like a boy who escapes into a modern 
department, and burns his classical books, — all 
the creases in our brain, so to speak, caused by 
this study, seem to be smoothed out, and the 
mind, on this subject, becomes a blank. 



368 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

Secondly, for this ripening to go on, the mind 
must not be distracted or disturbed by a rapid 
succession of different sorts of action. I once 
heard of pupils preparing for a very heterogeneous 
Examination, whose morning course was this. 
''A master in French comes for an hour, then 
we go to a lecture in chemistry for an hour : this 
is followed by an hour of English Literature, 
then an hour of Greek, and then one of Mathe- 
matics." Here there would be no possibility of 
the ripening process going on, for no knowledge 
could strike root. A certain amount may, in such 
cases, be kept suspended in the mind till it has 
to be discharged, but this is all. Just as one 
faculty has got into action it is stopped, and 
another part of the machinery is set in motion, 
this must jar the whole fabric, and there is an 
excitement in this constant change which after a 
while becomes necessary to the pupils. When 
pupils have been trained under such a system, it 
is difficult to bring them to apply their minds 
under a less stimulating one. The evil of this is 
more apparent with young men than with boys. 

4. Again, for us to carry a subject in our 
minds it must form a whole — fragments are trou- 
blesome to carry and are soon dropped — I do not 
mean that a science must be mastered in its full 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 369 



extent, but the portion of it learned must be so 
complete in itself that it shall be possible to re- 
gard it in one view, and to use it for the purpose 
proper to the subject. If we have been learning 
a language and stop at the grammar, it disappears 
in a moment; but if we can speak, write, and 
read it, then the language has given us a new 
nationality and it abides by us. 

So, if we learn any science, we must get be- 
yond the information stage for it to rest in our 
minds. By the info7^matio7i stage I mean that 
in which we get the results of science told us, as 
useful information, without arriving at them by 
investigation. Such is the sort of knowledge 
commonly furnished by a popular lecture; we 
may go away pleased to have become acquainted 
with certain facts, but if we have no grasp of 
any principles which hold them together, and no 
general conceptions which we can apply to what 
we see about us, then our knowledge will have 
no principle of vitality, it cannot renew itself. 

5. The nature of the knowledge has much 
to do with its permanency. 

The kinds of learning which result in an "Art," 
as I have already said, are the most permanent of 
all. In the case of these the foreeoine conditions 
are all fulfilled. But of the other kinds of 

L. 24 

/ 



370 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

learning some are more abiding than others. 
The more compactly a body of matter is held 
together by a system, the more easily it is carried 
in the mind. 

The kinds of learning which are made up of 
ramifications from a moderate number of fun- 
damental truths or laws or principles, are much 
more lasting mental possessions than those which 
are made up of detached facts. For instance, 
French Etymology, in which certain laws of 
derivation from vernacular Latin are of general 
application, is more easily remembered than 
English Etymology, which has few laws. 

Again, many physical sciences are wrapped up 
in a few elementary principles which can easily be 
carried, more especially as they may be recalled 
by what may be seen every day by one whose 
eyes have been opened to the ways of Nature. 
The brightness of a crack in the window-^ane, 
for instance, the height of the December full 
moon in the heavens, the unequal lengthening 
of forenoons and afternoons, and a hundred things 
of the same sort, serve to exercise pleasantly the 
student's recollections of Optics and Astronomy. 

To know the why and the wherefore even of 
such simple facts is real knowledge, as far as it 
goes : to have trained his eye to mark natural 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 371 

laws in operation makes a man happier and fuller 
of resource. If we want a pupil's knowledge of 
Physics to last for life, we should try to bind it up 
with what he may see day by day ; and it will help 
to give him the habit of being observant, if in the 
Examination papers which guide his reading he 
sees that the explanations of familiar phenomena 
are asked for as illustrations of principles. 

The above remarks apply with still greater 
force to Chemistry and its kindred sciences, which 
require work in a laboratory or workshop. The 
examiner should ascertain whether such work has 
been duly performed; when it has been so the resi- 
duum of knowledge that will be permanent will 
be considerable. Any manual facility that has 
been acquired remains by its possessor; and this 
facility, in the case of Chemistry, &c., is con- 
nected with knowledge and will keep it alive. In 
all Experimental Physics the student should, if pos- 
sible, have instruments given into kis own hands, 
and be made to use them for himself; for instance, 
he might be set to find the specific gravities of 
substances. For the teacher to perform the pro- 
cess while the student looks on, is a very different 
thing, especially if the latter does not expect to 
be called on to perform the experiment for him- 
self. 

24 — 2 



3/2 



Examinatio7is as a Test of Knowledge. 



In answer, then, to the question proposed, 
" How far can we judge by Examination of the 
length of time that a student's knowledge is likely 
to last?" we reply that by far the most important 
requisite is, as seems natural, that the knowledge 
must be thorough enough to be readily used, 
A man who can read French as easily as he 
can English is sure to take up a French 
1: ook now and then ; but one who has to turn 
to a dictionary will not do so unless he de- 
signedly sits down to study. So, also, in subjects 
which turn . on information. Very exact and 
complete information fulfils most of the above 
conditions. Moreover, a person is better inchned 
to keep up a study from having attained excellence 
or distinction in it; for it will then be stored away 
on the sunny side of his memory, to which he 
most readily turns. 

If, then, we want knowledge that should* be 
permanent and useful, we should be satisfied with 
nothing less than very thorough knowledge; but 
if we are forced, from professional or other needs, 
to put up with partial knowledge, we should as- 
certain that this knowledge has been slowly taken 
in, and not run hastily up in a few weeks in order 
to be poured out in an Examination and then 
done with for ever. 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 373 

Again, we should have more hope that the 
knowledge of a subject would last if it were 
taken in to an Examination by itself than if it 
were one out of many branches of knowledge 
taken at once; and we should prefer a system 
in which the subjects are carried on from Exa- 
mination to Examination, a part at one time and 
a part at another, to one in which each is cleared 
off in a single Examination. 

There are some subjects, which are bundles of 
detached facts, like English Etymology, and some 
parts of English Law, in which it may be neces- 
sary to examine for educational or other purposes, 
but of the retention of which we can never make 
sure unless they are constantly in use. A person 
may pass a creditable Examination on a given 
day on such points, and be unable to answer a 
single question on that day month. This same 
person could, however, recover his knowledge in 
a short time. These are subjects which ought 
to be entrusted to the '' Index memory" above 
spoken of. The student only wants to know 
that such knowledge is to be had, and where 
to find it. Even if a lawyer did recollect the 
substance of a case in point, he would not be 
justified in citing it without having previously 
turned to it. It would have saved editors a vast 



3 74 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

deal of trouble if some writers of grreat erudition 
had taken this proper precaution with regard to 
their quotations and statements. 

We have now considered the three points that 
came before us, viz., the extent, the suitableness, 
and the durability of a student's knowledge. In 
all cases we have found that the subjects which 
yield a faculty which we can see in action are 
the most easy to deal with. They have this 
additional advantage, that they in general require 
little special preparation to be fit for production in 
an Examination. A person has his Latin and 
Greek and French, so far as the mere languages 
go, always about him. But the knowledge of 
a true classical scholar involves somethingf of a 
higher kind, and this difference causes difficulties 
in the relative adjustment of "marks" in Com- 
petitive Examinations. 

A modern language affords the best instance 
of a subject learned solely for its value as an 
acquisition. That a man can speak and write 
French tells us nothino^ for certain about his 
ability, or his powers of application. He may 
have picked it up abroad as his mother tongue, 
and whether this has been the case or not, the 
more nearly, in learning it, he follows the process 
by which a child learns to speak, the sooner he 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 375 

will acquire it, but it will not serve as a mode of 
educating his faculties so well as if learned 
by grammatical analysis. He goes through few 
conscious mental processes, and therefore he gets 
little training from the study; but he does not 
want to get education, but to know French. And 
thus the French master very properly aims at 
producing a system which will enable people to 
learn French with the least possible call on their 
brains, whereas an educator looks first to the kinds 
and amount of brain action that he can call into 
play in his pupil through his teaching. 

This difference between modern languages and 
the more educational subjects causes a difficulty 
when such a language is made in an Examination 
to rank against subjects of the other description. 
This difficulty is the greater because French or 
German may be, and at English Schools often are, 
taught just as if they were dead languages. Less 
is thereby learnt of them, but more general good 
is got from the process. Hence to judge fairly of 
ability or application in such cases, we ought to 
know by what method the pupil has been taught, 
though if we only want the accomplishment 
itself this does not matter. 

On this account Modern Languages are not 
well suited for an arena for a contest of wits. They 



37^ Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

cause uncertainty in the Indian Civil Service 
Examinations; and where it has been attempted 
to award Prizes or Scholarships to them at the 
great Schools or the Universities, it has been 
found that this amounted to giving a man a prize 
for being of foreign extraction, or having had a 
Swiss nurse, or having been brought up abroad. 
Those who did not possess some such advantage 
would not venture to compete, and the prize 
failed to encourage the study. Yet if no ad- 
vantages are attached to a knowledge of Modern 
Languages, all attention is turned to more remune- 
rative subjects ; and as we confessedly want young 
men to know modern languages, we are in a 
dilemma. 

One solution that has been attempted is to 
introduce into the Examination what I may call 
literary knowledge of the language as contrasted 
with wor/eing knowledge, for example, "Historical 
Grammar," Philology, and the History of the 
Literature of the country. This, no doubt, would 
tell against those who had only the knowledge 
of an uncultivated native ; but still a great advan- 
tage would remain with a cultivated native. 

By this mode of treatment, however, we give 
a new character to the study, and its claims to 
consideration are no longer the same as before. 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 377 

Modern languages rest their claims greatly on 
their usefulness ; but an acquaintance with obso- 
lete forms and dialects, though interesting, is not 
useful knowledge. German philology involves an 
acquaintance with Moeso-Gothic, which is as much 
a dead language as Greek. An acquaintance 
with the Lay of the Nibelungen is a possession, 
of the same kind as a knowledge of the Iliad. 
One takes as much time as the other to acquire ; 
and they are of about the same service in the 
business of life. The History of a Foreign Lite- 
rature as a subject of examination is open to the 
objection which is made to Examinations in that 
of English Literature, but the reasons for intro- 
ducing it as an optional subject may in particular 
cases outweigh the objections. It should be kept 
distinct from the Examination in the Language. 

I would resolve the dilemma in a more trenchant 
way and, except in case of marked excellence, 
remove modern Languages from the Competitions, 
but exact a serviceable acquaintance with them, 
as being desirable, and often necessary accomplish- 
ments, by means of a qualifying Examination. 

They are quickest and best learned in early 
youth, say from 12 to 15, and in the countries in 
which they are spoken: they require but little 
head ; they may be picked up by ear at a time 



^yS Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

when a boy usually learns little, and though, if 
dropped, they will be quickly forgotten, they may 
be kept up by the three hours a week spared 
for them at English schools. A boy might trans- 
late his Latin, on paper, into French, and read 
his Physical Science in French books. 

In this way modern languages, considered 
linguistically, would not be brought into the same 
account with more strictly educational studies, with 
which it is difficult to compare them, though high 
excellence in translation, or in the rendering of a 
version, might carry credit for the competition, 
because excellence of any kind shews a mental 
power. In Examinations on leaving school or 
entering the University, Modern Languages would 
find their proper place : a knowledge of one at 
least might be expected. 

We come then to this. Where a subject is 
wanted purely for utility, and is of a different 
nature from educational studies, it should be made 
the subject of a preliminary Examination, which 
might give a certificate of mere qualification, and 
also one of merit. The certificate of merit would 
be rated at varying values for the competition 
according to the intelligence, accuracy, and power 
of expression displayed. Supposing that it is de- 
sirable that all Indian officials and all officers in 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 3 79 

the army should know French, I would exact a 
serviceable knowledge of that language in a pre- 
liminary Examination. 

There are few subjects in which knowledge 
is so purely regarded as a useful acquisition 
as it is in the case of languages. The direct 
useftdness of knowledge for practical purposes, 
excepting strictly professional knowledge, is so 
small as to be discouraging to the teacher. Peo^ 
pie boast in the presence of the young that they 
have got on very well without knowing anything, 
and there are indeed few occasions in actual life 
in which a person suffers seriously from his ignor- 
ance. Even in the case of professional know- 
ledge, science and practice are less closely united 
in England than they are abroad. Three out of 
four successful English barristers owe their ad- 
vancement more to their insight into human 
nature and their practical sense than to a philoso- 
phical knowledge of Law. In England a "lead- 
ing lawyer" means a leading advocate ; but in 
Germany, where there is more of scientific system 
in legal procedure, promotion comes more from 
the State than from the public, and the lawyer's 
claims often rest on his learned treatises or his 
repute as a jurisconsult. Scientific Law comes 
so little into common practice in England that 



380 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

we have to enforce a knowledge of it by Exa- 
minations backed by Prizes. 

We must come to the same conclusion as 
to competitions in the display of knowledge that 
we did when speaking of ability; we cannot nicely 
discriminate between degrees of knowledge, for 
we can only explore certain provinces of learn- 
ing, and even in them we may pass over some 
regions in which the particular strength of one 
candidate may lie ; but we can make sure that a 
person who does well possesses high attainments, 
and that one who makes blunders of certain 
kinds is altogether unsound. We cannot say that 
a person about whom we form a judgment may 
not possess more knowledge than we see dis- 
played, or that he might not extend some descrip- 
tions of it considerably in a short time : in other 
cases we might see that he had reached his limit, 
as was explained in the last chapter (p. 243). 

W^hat we can gauge most closely is the degree 
In which students have drawn advantage from a 
prescribed course of study. This leads us to 
conclude that we should not attempt to make nice 
distinctions, except where the Examinations are 
connected with some such course. All Exa- 
minations, as I have said, imply pitpillage ; the 
older a student is, the less is the discipline 



\1 



Exammations as a Test of Knowledge. 381 

they afford needed for his case, and therefore 
the less he should be shackled by the trammels 
of close competition. Examinations used for 
testing knowledge should be like those which the 
student would frame for himself in order to direct 
his work, and to shew him whether he had really 
learned what he wanted to know. 

I now come to a practical point. In some 
Examinations — that for the Indian Civil Service, 
for instance — various kinds of knowledge are com- 
prised, and marks are to be assigned to each. 
Can we find any principles to guide us in fixing 
the proportions in which we are to allot the 
marks ? We may object to the system, but that 
will not justify us in evading the question. 

Not to embarrass ourselves with two con- 
siderations at once, we will for the present suppose 
that all the branches of knowledge comprised in 
the Examination are of equal utility, and the pro- 
portion of marks due to each will then depend 
on certain elements which enter into the cost of 
production. 

(i) There are some kinds of knowledge to 
which only a few choice intellects can attain. 
High mathematics, first-rate classical scholarship, 
and parts of mental philosophy, are of this order. 
A high value must be assigned in a competition 



382 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

to studies requiring these peculiar faculties, or 
those who possess them will seek, and in the 
present state of things will probably find, some 
other sphere where their peculiar powers are better 
appreciated. If any desired product could only be 
raised on an exceptionally rich soil, it would on 
this account be more costly : this answers to 
the case before us. 

(2) Other kinds of knowledge stand near the 
top, as it were, of a long ladder, which the learner 
must have climbed rung by rung to reach them. 
A person cannot take up a book on the Polarisa- 
tion of Light, or on Greek Philology, and begin 
on it without being versed in preparatory studies ; 
but if he want to instruct himself in History, or 
Political Philosophy, or Physical Geography, he 
requires no such special apparatus, but only what 
a fair education would have provided him with. 
The time and labour required for providing this 
special apparatus are elements in the value of 
the knowledge, and must be considered. A ques- 
tion which arises in elementary Examinations may 
be noted in illustration. A knowledge of the 
sixth book of Euclid involves that of the previous 
ones. Are we, in marking a proposition in the 
sixth book, to take account of the labour required 
to arrive at it, or only of its intrinsic difficulty 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 383 

and value ? My answer would be, that if, in 
a miscellaneous paper, we set a single question 
in Euclid, and that one taken from the sixth 
book, we should attach to this the value which 
we assiofn to a knowledsfe of Euclid as an entire 
subject ; but if we set a paper with propositions 
from each book of Euclid, the candidate, in 
doing the paper, obtains credit for his know- 
ledge of each book, and therefore the proposi- 
tion in the sixth book must only be valued for 
its intrinsic difficulty. For educational purposes 
a little extra credit may be given to the latter part 
of a subject, because pupils get weary ; and it 
may be necessary specially to reward those who 
" keep on to the end." 

(3) We have also to consider the length of 
time it takes to learn a subject in the case of a 
pupil of fair intelligence who is properly taught. 
The old question then arises, as to how we are to 
suppose the subject to have been acquired. This 
especially affects modern languages. My sugges- 
tion (p. '^jj) would remove the difficulty, but I 
must deal with things as they are. 

To learn German passably in England, by 
grammar and dictionary, will take two-thirds of the 
time required to learn as much Greek. But a 
valuable knowledge of it can be obtained in 



384 Examinations as a Test of Kftow ledge. 

Germany much more quickly. How are we to 
rate these languages ? I think it safest to suppose 
all goods to be purchased in the cheapest market, 
supposing always that no educational evil results 
from so doing. I should, then, so far as the con- 
sideration of time goes, rate German on the sup- 
position that it is learned in Germany, because 
an English boy may very well go to a German 
gymnasium. 

There may be cases in which a vicious system 
of cram would offer the shortest road to some 
kinds of learning ; but, in that case, the Examina- 
tion should be recast as regards those subjects. 
At any rate, it would be essential not to over-mark 
a subject which offered such a temptation. 

Another point is this. Those subjects which 
require a master, and especially those which must 
be taught for a long period in youth, should carry 
more weight in examinations of young men, 
than those which a person can learn for himself 
whenever he has a mind. These studies will 
otherwise be superseded by others which can be 
got directly they are wanted, and this may do 
harm. For if a student do not learn the former 
as a pupil, he will never learn them at all, and will 
thereby be shut out from those fields of knowledge 
to which these studies give access. For instance, 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 385 

a person who has never learned geometry at 
school is not likely to begin it in after life, and is 
thereby precluded from knowing anything properly 
of any physical science. Hence the kinds of 
learning which require that a youth should have 
had schooling, and which must have been taught 
him at school, should in an Examination of young 
men be more highly considered than subjects 
which can be acquired later in life. 

But instead of fixing what I may call the 
market values of different kinds of knowledge, by 
the relative cost of production, we may in some 
cases be guided by their relative utility. When 
we know exactly what kinds of knowledge the 
successful candidates will require, in what degree 
each is essential, and what difficulties or facilities 
they will have in perfecting a kind of knowledge 
after they are started on their duties, we have all 
the data wanted for properly apportioning the 
credit to be given to the various subjects. In 
this case, even if the subjects be fitted for a liberal 
education, they are regarded in a technical spirit ; 
the candidates will be reading with a particular 
prospect in view, and will only aim at reaching 
a certain standard in each subject required. If it 
is desired that particular attention should be paid 
to a particular study, all that will be necessary 
L. 25 



lS6 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 



will be to mark it highly and to set a high stand- 
ard for qualification. When we want, then, to 
test specific qualifications the case is compara- 
tively simple. 

The Further Examination for the Indian Civil 
Service affords an instance. Its object is to ascer- 
tain that candidates are fitted to exercise certain 
duties, and it is, therefore, a qualifying Examina- 
tion, with enough advantage, in the way of prizes 
and seniority in the Service, attached to doing 
well, to give a student the requisite interest. 

This Examination comprises Law, Indian Lan- 
guages, the History of India, and rudiments of 
Political Economy. The highest marks are al- 
lotted to Law, because this knowledge is essential 
for the Indian official, and can rarely be attained 
in India ; the languages are less highly marked, 
because a civilian can hardly help perfecting him- 
self in these afterwards ; and the other subjects 
carry comparatively little weight, because they 
are not essential and can be studied without help 
from teachers whenever a knowledge of them is 
required. 

If, in allotting the marks to our subjects in 
a Competitive Examination, we have to take the 
so-called cost of production and also the utility 
of different kinds of knowledge into considera- 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 387 

tion at the same time, we shall be involved in 
difficulties similar to those which met us in the 
case of modern languages. We shall then be 
considering knowledge partly as the criterion of 
ability and of the mental training got from a liberal 
education, and partly as a qualification for par- 
ticular duties. If a person cannot set about his 
duties without a certain knowledge, the value of 
this knowledge to him, mathematically speaking, 
is infinite — it must be made a sine qua nan: but if a 
kind of knowledge is not likely to come into practical 
use till the student is high in his profession — as 
is the case with Jurisprudence in the Law, or 
Political Philosophy in the Civil Service — the 
value of this lies in its furnishing a proof that 
the student knows how to set about applying to 
such studies, and can take clear views of their 
principles. What he has actually learned for 
Examination will have been forgotten long before 
occasion comes for its use, and possibly will have 
become antiquated before that time. When utility, 
then, has to be taken into account, we must under- 
stand whether a kind of knowledge is wanted for 
immediate use or not. If it be, a sufficient amount 
must be rigorously exacted, and if in the display 
of this the candidate shews that he can seize on 
the gist of a matter, grasp it firmly and put it 

25—2 



388 Examinations as a Test of Kriowledge. 

forcibly, this should carry marks in the competi- 
tion, as indicating the kind of ability we want. 
But the subjects on which the competition is to 
turn should be marked on the principles above 
laid down. To overmark an easy subject because 
it is, or may be, useful, is to leave a weak point 
which will certainly be taken advantage of By 
restricting the subjects of competition, to those 
which are useful for the object in view, we force 
candidates to adopt a special kind of preparation, 
and thereby we limit the area from which we 
draw our candidates, as will appear below. 

In the Examination for the Selection of candi- 
dates for the Indian Service, which precedes that 
just spoken of, the object is to obtain, not young 
men with special attainments, but those who are 
likely to make efficient public servants. It was 
therefore wisely determined that the Examination 
should turn, not on what was likely to be of 
service in the position contemplated, but on the 
ordinary subjects of a liberal education. Had 
it been otherwise the competition would have 
been confined to those who were disposed to risk 
their whole education on the chance of success, 
for the special knowledge wanted for the Indian 
Service would not have fitted them for English 
professional life. The aim of the Examination 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 389 

was to secure ability, but it was necessary to 
admit knowledge as evidence of this ability ; 
and it is on this ground that I consider this 
Examination in this chapter instead of in the last. 
Knowledge, as we have seen, is only an indirect 
measure of ability : some kinds of knowledge, "art 
subjects" for instance, represent it better than 
others, and excellence in a few points shews in- 
finitely more of it than mediocrity in many. But 
an Examination directed solely to picking out the 
clever men would have had a much worse educa- 
tional effect than that which is in use — it would 
have generated a straining after point and effect, 
and an affectation of premature wisdom. The 
difficulty of framing an Examination to effect 
what is wanted without doing educational mischief 
is caused in a great degree by the variety and 
irregularity of secondary education in England. 
In Germany such difficulties do not exist. If 
the Government there wanted to select candi- 
dates for appointments they would know that 
they would all have been educated at Gymnasia 
much in the same way. But in England the 
Examination must be fair for persons educated 
in different ways : this involves the offering of a 
very wide option of subjects. The framers of the 
scheme might estimate the subjects according as 



390 Examinations as a Test of Knozuledge. 

they brought out ability or valuable habits of 
mind : but in marking them one against the 
other, the chief point to be considered would be 
the cost of production, because if a subject were 
overmarked — -as was once the case with Italian 
in the I. C. S. Examination — it would be largely 
taken in, to the exclusion possibly of more desira- 
ble knowledge; and if undermarked — as was once 
the case with mathematics — it would soon be 
taken in only by a few. 

If ever such an inequality exist in the relative 
marking of subjects, indications of it will appear 
after a few trials. When the weaker men are 
found to take in very generally a subject that 
would not usually come into a regular educational 
course, it may be suspected that this offers them 
some undue advantage ; probably some way has 
been discovered of communicating enough of it to 
bring in a good share of marks, in a shorter time 
than the Examiners reckoned upon: it may have 
been, for instance, reduced to a matter of mere 
memory, or put into such a shape that the tutor 
can do for the pupil, what it was supposed he 
would have to do for himself. Again, if a number 
of students who have failed in one trial, select a 
particular subject as an additional one to increase 
their weight of metal in a subsequent conflict, it 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 391 

may be suspected that this subject is overmarked 
in relation to the time it takes to learn. 

The ablest men, indeed, will not care thus 
to pry into the system in search of a weak point 
— they know that they can carry the position by a 
front attack — but when fifty candidates have to 
be chosen, the last twenty taken and the first 
twenty rejected do not differ much in calibre, 
and a sufficient difference in the marks to decide 
success may be due to a nice perception of an 
advantage offered by one subject or another. 

The relative productiveness of subjects depends 
of course on the relative difficulty of the papers 
set in them, and on the proportion of questions that 
can be done in the time allowed. One Examiner 
may have a higher standard of excellence than 
another, and one subject may yield marks more 
freely than another. For instance, a much larger 
proportion of candidates can, in general, get three- 
fourths of the marks in a translation paper than 
can do so in a mathematical paper. This must 
be allowed for. Tutors arrive at a marvellous 
intuition as to the subjects which each candidate 
had best select, and can predict his " score " with 
great accuracy — indeed a talent of this sort is a 
main requisite for one who makes preparation 
for these Examinations his special work. 



392 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

As I have said, it does not matter much, as 
regards the actual convenience of the service even 
if a few of those selected do owe their position 
to skilful tactics, because so many are accepted 
that the list extends down to the " great plateau 
of mediocrity," and with the candidates in that 
region the intellectual differences vaniish as com- 
pared with moral ones, such as the differences in 
volition and energy, about which Examinations 
can tell us nothing. But all that encourages 
tactics, all that leads a man to trust to cunning, 
and to glory in outwitting the Examiner, has a 
deteriorating effect ; when a student reads in a 
narrow spirit, every sentence is considered as to 
its probability of being set, and when the Exa- 
mination is past, all reading seems to him intoler- 
ably flat from the want of being seasoned with 
this gambling element to which he has been 
accustomed. This evil in some degree attends all 
Examinations, though it does not become serious 
unless they are too often repeated ; but it Is in- 
creased by its being supposed that there is room 
for adroit management, and for this there is 
more scope when the subjects are numerous and 
some more productive of marks than others. This 
idea leads to the study of Examination papers, 
and to the looking too narrowly to an im7ncdiate 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 393 

return. By avoiding inequalities, then, we reduce 
the educational mischief, and this is worth our 
consideration, even as regards selection only, be- 
cause by the prolonged operation of a bad influence, 
the mass of candidates may so deteriorate, that we 
may hereby lose more, than we gain by the in- 
crease of the probability of getting the best among 
them for the Public Service. 

This chapter would be incomplete without 
some notice of what I have called Pass or Quali- 
fying Examinations — such Examinations should 
indeed be framed chiefly according to the edu- 
cational needs they are to answer; but still we 
may want to know how far we can trust to them 
as indicating a serviceable knowledge of the sub- 
jects they comprise. They are the means, almost 
the only means, of causing young men of moderate 
ability and powers of application, to exercise their 
brains; and the subjects should be chosen, and the 
course of Examination planned, more with the view 
of keeping the mind of the student in action, than 
with the idea of measuring his capacity, or with 
regard to the value of what the pupil will carry 
away with him. The matter acquired goes for 
little in the case of the duller young m.en, in com- 
parison with the importance of educating their 
will and giving them the use of their brains and 



194 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 



the power of working when they feel disinclined. 
These Examinations also exercise an effect on the 
parents. Without them, the sons of the wealthy 
would often, owing to parental indulgence and in- 
difference to educational discipline-^, grow up not 
only in ignorance but in torpor of mind : the Ex- 
aminations which now stand at the portals of most 
professions do for the wealthier classes what the 
School Board does for the poor. But though men- 
tal exercise may be the first thing to be considered 
in framing a course of study, the steps of which are 
to be marked out by Pass Examinations, yet some 
kinds of this exercise will result in a little know- 
ledge or in a few conceptions which enlarge the 
mind, or in some accomplishment which may be 
kept in use by the ordinary occasions of life (I 
am not speaking of professional knowledge), while 

^ Mr Trevelyan, Life of Macatclay, p. 33-;, observes well on this point : 
"It is throwing away money to spend a thousand a year on the 
education of three boys if they are to return from scliool only to find the 
older members of the family intent on amusing themselves at any cost of 
time and trouble." 

Mr Gladstone once observed that there was never a time when the 
wealthy classes in England seemed so devoted to amusement. Wealthy 
men, however, often work extremely hard, but their work is out of sight, it 
is done at the office, and the home, which alone the young people know, 
is the place of holiday and relaxation ; thus the young are impressed with 
the idea that enjoyment is the business of life, from the work being put out 
of their sight. Parents who have little time for pleasure themselves seem to 
get a palpable return for their labour in the pleasures they can afford to 
their children. 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 395 



others yield nothing beyond the exercise itself. 
Some of these last may give kinds of exercise so 
essential for growing brains that their advantage 
in this respect may more than counterbalance their 
want of utility ; this is a question for the edu- 
cator. What I have here to consider is, what the 
knowledge or the degree of accomplishment ac- 
quired for pass examinations by young men of 
moderate powers is worth as an actual possession. 

Some subjects of study will yield a larger 
residuum than others, and some modes of study 
will be more productive than others both in point 
of knowledge and training ; there may also be 
methods, (see p. 53,) which will give small results 
but much mental profit, while others may enable 
the student to produce a considerable quantity 
at a given time, without his deriving any perma- 
nent good either from the process of learning or 
from what he has got temporarily into his head. 

The modes of learning which yield permanent 
knowledge are also in most cases those which 
confer most good as training, hence we may take 
the conditions which I have laid down as condu- 
cive to the durability of knowledge, pp. 366 — 369, 
and apply them to the case before us — recollecting 
always that the class of students under considera- 
tion can seldom advance far in a subject, and that 



396 Examinatiojts as a Test of Knowledge. 

they can seldom carry any considerable amount of 
information in their heads for lonof together. 

The improvement produced by undergoing a 
course of Examinations is most seen in the 
increased power of catching the point of questions 
and in expressing the answers. " Paper work," as 
it is called, is burdensome to schoolmasters, and 
the duller pupils are therefore seldom well trained 
in ''writing out" : but they are necessarily much 
practised in this when they have to be prepared 
for a paper Examination. This improved power 
of expression is likely to last because it is called 
into play whenever pen is put to paper. 

Different subjects add to mental wealth in 
different ways and degrees. The advantage of 
Geometry lies chiefly in mental training, but in 
undergfoingf this traininor the dullest student can 
hardly help getting some clearer conceptions 
with regard to space, and these may continue by 
him through life. He may likewise retain a know- 
ledge of Arithmetic and possibly of Algebra which 
may be considered to have value. With regard 
to the physical sciences, such as Mechanics, Heat, 
&c., their value as acquirements will depend very 
much on the degree in which the pupil has been 
trained to observe common phsenomena and apply 
his principles to the explanation of them. History 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 397 

and Geography are the subjects which offer the 
most frequent examples of ludicrous errors : these 
often shew that the pupil has been only trying to 
tack words together, for instance the name of a 
battle and its commander, a country and its capital, 
and a few such errors shew that the whole of the 
knowledge displayed is of a flimsy and worthless 
description : the remarks made p. 346 will apply 
to this case. 

With regard to languages it should be ob- 
served that the preparation of "set subjects" 
shews no knowledge of the language worth speak- 
ing of. Such subjects are necessary for class 
teaching, and if properly chosen and treated so as 
to shew a thorough comprehension of the author 
and a knowledge of what is wanted in order to 
understand the book thoroughly, — if for instance 
a Greek play is treated as a play of Shakespeare 
would be, — they may be of great value as a 
nucleus for much improving teaching, and they 
supply very definite work. 

But as such a subject will practically be pre- 
pared either with a ** crib" or by taking down the 
translation given by a teacher, no confidence can 
be placed in a knowledge of it as shewing ac- 
quaintance with the language. I should therefore 
strongly urge the introduction in Pass Examina- 



398 Ex animations as a Test of Knowledge. 



tions of what are called "unseen" passages. In 
the case of Latin and Greek these would, in the 
present state of education, have to be very easy 
if any considerable proportion of candidates are 
to pass. Rather than give up requiring the trans- 
lation of such passages, I would allow the use in 
the Examination of an approved Lexicon. If a 
youth can make out a passage by this means he 
must have learnt the language in the way we wish 
him to do, and his knowledge will amount to some- 
thing, though possibly to but little. With regard 
to the Natural Sciences I must refer to the obser- 
vations made before, only I would say emphati- 
cally that for the knowledge to be worth any- 
thing at all it must be practical. 

An important point in such Examination, is 
the number of subjects it may contain. The "pass 
men" can seldom apply themselves to one subject 
sufficiently long at a time to occupy the hours that 
they might fairly be expected to give to study, 
neither can they go far in one thing, but they are 
distracted and distressed by too large a number 
of incongruous subjects. Hence the proper num- 
ber must be arrived at by educational considera- 
tions and by the character of the course of study 
which is connected with the Examination. I con- 
sider that not more than three distinct studies 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 399 

should be comprised in one Examination, but two 
or three books or subjects in one study might be 
taken in, such as two books in a language, or two 
or more subjects in Mathematics. 

The Examination may be made difficult in 
two ways ; by increasing the number of subjects 
in each of which it is necessary to pass, or by 
exacting a high standard in a few subjects. 

For instance, if candidates were required to 
pass in each of a dozen subjects, nearly the whole 
of an ordinary batch would fail, and yet those who 
succeeded might know nothing. If a thorough pro- 
ficiency even in a few subjects is exacted weak men 
will not pass, whatever pains they may take, but 
those who do pass will have a knowledge of some 
value. But if we reduce the number of subjects 
too far, without raising the standard considerably, 
if for instance we allow candidates to take one 
or two subjects at a time, and require only a mode- 
rate proficiency, our series of Examinations will 
not serve to sift out the incapable, and will be 
no guarantee of the knowledge of those who pass, 
for some will have got through by reading only 
half the subject. 

The real value of all Pass Examinations de- 
pends on the teaching with which it is associated. 
When the Examination is held up as a chal- 



400 Examiitations as a Test of Knowledge. 

lenge to all comers, success in it Is a very un- 
certain kind of criterion. If the programme con- 
tain scraps of eight or ten different subjects in 
each of which the candidate must satisfy the 
Examiners, then the system is unwholesome in 
itself. Its evil effects maybe mitigated by judi- 
cious teaching, but they will be intensified if the 
youth perceives that his teacher does not believe 
in his getting good from what he is learning, but 
is only helping him over an obstacle, which for 
some inscrutable reason he has to surmount. 

What the passing of a qualifying Examination 
principally shews, besides memory, is a certain 
degree of moral power, and if we know nothing of 
the circumstances under which the youth has 
learned, we can judge but very imperfectly of this 
moral power. He may have been forced through 
one Examination by having been kept under 
the eye of a master, and out of the way of all 
temptation, but it does not follow that he will ever 
be able to pass another of no greater difficulty. 
He may have got too old for scholastic com- 
pulsion, and be incapable of any kind of self 
direction. Failures at the University come more 
from impotency of will than from incapacity of 
any other kind ; next to this from impatience. 

We have now considered the action of Exami- 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 401 

nations when employed to test knowledge. We 
found that when they were employed to test 
ability, they might lead to the hypertrophy of a 
certain set of faculties or to the development of 
mere adroitness or to a straining after point and 
profundity: so also we have seen in the present 
chapter that when we are In quest of knowledge 
an evil of another kind is engendered. When 
the pupil is to get credit or profit from the display 
of knowledge, the tutor may give him more help 
than is good for him ; he may do all the head work 
for him, and only expect him to recollect what 
he is told. In both cases an unwholesome in- 
fluence is exerted by Examinations being used 
for a purpose which does not belong to them 
considered as educational appliances. 

The knowledge that Is got by much telling 
and shewing on the part of the tutor is much 
less permanent than that which is due to good 
work done by the pupil himself, but while It lasts 
it is hardly to be distinguished from this, and 
it brings its possessor profit in Examinations. 
A man can be got over more country by being 
carried over every ditch — but then he never learns 
to leap ; so pupils go farther by having every diffi- 
culty forestalled, but they do not learn to use their 
brains and depend on themselves. If we only 
L. 26 



402 Exammatioiis as a Test of Knowledge. 

want to use the knowledge and not the man, we 
do not care whether he has been overhelped or 
not so that he can give us the assistance we want. 
Society needs, however, only a few experts, for 
the knowledge belonging to one man may be made 
to serve many, but she wants as many Intelligent 
men as she can get. 

The 111 effects just spoken of shew themselves 
most In the weakest men : strong mental constitu- 
tions soon throw off the effects of Ill-judged treat- 
ment and have energy to spare for perfecting 
their healthy growth. So that if the standard 
be fixed so high as to exclude all but really able 
men, the ills arising from a vicious mode of pre- 
paration will hardly appear; but if a large pro- 
portion of candidates have to be selected, many of 
them will shew the effects of such evil training, 
and those who fail will have suffered still more. 

Examinations, when used as tests, attach re- 
wards to certain results of education which may or 
may not be proportional to the improvement of 
the pupil; and therefore they may engender a 
system of education which sacrifices everything to 
getting these results at the time when they are 
wanted for exhibition. In educational leelslatlon, 
results are convenient things to go by; we can 
tabulate the number of boys who have arrived at 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 403 

this or that point, and to get them forward is, no 
doubt, one object, but if it be overvalued, the 
teacher is led to aim at pushing on, rather than at 
extracting all the good from each lesson. 

I arrive then at the following practical con- 
clusions. Examinations, regarded as appliances 
in education, should be directed, not primarily to 
discovering ability or knowledge, but as sanc- 
tions to systems of teaching. They should serve 
as landing-places, to portion out the course, and 
give an object to teachers and pupils in pur- 
suing a definite track. So far as they are used 
to see that a pupil has done properly what he 
has been given to do, there is no drawback to their 
use. Examinations based on such principles may 
serve the purpose of selection well enough, inas- 
much as great nicety of discrimination is not 
attainable, nor indeed is it really required. All 
kinds of ability, which are cognizable by Ex- 
aminations at all, and knowledge of all sorts, 
except that which is special and recondite, may, 
I believe, be brought out sufficiently for our 
practical needs by Examinations which are adapted 
to educational systems ; and this affords the only 
prospect I see of escape froni the difficulties 
which attend the use of Examinations. 

When all the students have had the same 

26 — 2 



404 Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 

work given them to do, the same time to do It in, 
and much the same kind of teaching, we can 
classify them as to ''merit" more satisfactorily than 
when they may have had very different advan- 
tages ; and when an educating body has the con- 
trol of the Examinations, they can take precautions 
for preventing the evil arising from over-eager- 
ness In competing. Hence the performances of a 
pupil In a series of Examinations, connected with 
a definite course of instruction, afford a better 
criterion for judging of him, than does a display 
In an Examination open to all comers, and they 
also enable us to judge, In some degree, of moral 
qualities such as application and perseverance. 

Examinations counteract the desultory ten- 
dency in young men, and supply discipline by en- 
forcing definite work; they therefore, as has been 
said, keep candidates in a state of pupillage. But 
when men have passed beyond the time for pupil- 
lage and should be a law to themselves. It does 
them harm to be kept In leading-strings. Self- 
direction Is a quality which Is not expected early 
in life : youths, we know, even though they may 
be ready to apply themselves to work when it Is 
given them, can rarely find work for themselves 
and set themselves to it. Examinations do this 
for them ; they supply this direction from without, 



Examinations as a Test of Knowledge. 405 

but If they be continued too late in life, they may 
prevent its ever coming from within: besides, 
they discourage spontaneity and independence 
of judgment. Hence we should not continue 
Examinations beyond the age of twenty-two, ex- 
cepting when a guarantee is wanted of Special 
or Professional knowledge which is to be turned 
to actual use, and such Examinations need not 
be and should not be of a closely competitive 
character. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PRIZE EMOLUMENTS IN EDUCATION. 

We have had occasion from time to time to 
glance from the mechanism of education, to which 
the subject we are considering belongs, to the 
forces which keep this train of machinery at work. 
The motives which lead people to study are the 
forces in question. These motives are much the 
same as those which actuate men in other courses. 
If a life of study supplies these for itself, that is to 
say, if learning brings profit or pleasure enough to 
remunerate the learner, then there will be no need 
of interference, but if It do not, and we want to 
have learned men, then we must supply these 
motives In a direct form. 

I must now refer to what I have said In the 
second chapter, pp. 66 to 69, to shew the kind of 
advantages accruing to society at large from having 
many highly educated members. 

Whether the existence of a class of culti- 
vated persons in the country is worth what it may 



Prize Emoluments in Education. 407 

cost to obtain, is a question for the public. If 
there be no want of such cultivation and no use 
for it, there is an end of the matter : but if such 
a cultivated class is desired, as contributing to the 
credit or well-being of the nation, money must be 
spent in order to get it. First-rate genius, it is 
true, will neither be forced nor suppressed ; no 
emoluments will bribe it into existence, and no 
neglect will extinguish it : but of such geniuses we 
only see three or four in an age. There are in the 
country however, many young men of assiduity 
and intelligence, who may have a very consider- 
able share of intellectual tastes, and who, though 
not geniuses, may do good literary and scientific 
work. The destination of these persons in life 
will be determined by the ordinary considerations 
which influence men, viz. by the prospects of 
pecuniary profit, social position, and congenial 
work; under the last head we must take into 
account the pleasure which some find in the 
pursuit of knowledge "for its own sake." This 
expression is somewhat vague, and its exact 
meaning will be considered further on. 

When parents have to plan out a future for 
their sons, they must be governed by considera- 
tions of prudence. The advantages of a high 
cultivation in giving a young man a better use of 



4o8 Prize Emoluments 

his faculties are not definite enough to justify a 
person of hmited means in incurring the outlay for 
his son. Even if the student be supported at the 
University by Scholarships, still he must expend 
time and labour to get this cultivation. During 
this time his contemporaries, without doing harder 
work, may be making their way to a maintenance. 
The parent will look to some counterbalancing 
advantage; this may be offered in the form of the 
chance of a Fellowship ; for speculative returns set 
men to work in all lines of life, and to aim at a 
Fellowship is to embark in a sort of venture. 
Again, the youth himself may have a taste for 
study, but still he may require a prospect of re- 
compense for the drudgery of learning, not as an 
amateur, but in the most thorough manner possible. 
Many persons find pleasure in drawing, but few 
will go through a course of perspective and ana- 
tomical studies, unless they have to earn their 
bread by their pencil. 

We conclude then that the highest kind of 
education or attainment, is a sort of crop which 
does not remunerate the producer so directly as to 
make it likely that it will be grown unless some 
special market for it be provided. 

Society, at present, desires that such a crop 
should be grown, and therefore it provides remune- 



in Edtication. 409 



ration in the several forms of Scholarships, Fellow- 
ships, and Government appointments which at pre- 
sent offer this special market for it. The awarding 
of these Civil Service appointments by Competitive 
Examinations, makes Fellowships or some Uni- 
versity rewards of the kind a necessity, if we do 
not wish the best intellect of the country to be 
drawn off to official employments. Moreover, 
these appointments are often awarded at so early an 
aofe, that candidates for them cannot have com- 
pleted the full course of studies required for the 
highest education. Such education might therefore 
disappear, or become confined to a small class, 
if no equivalent advantages were held out at 
the Universities as recompenses for a prolonged 
and complete course of liberal mental cultivation. 

In short, such liberal cultivation is, in itself, 
partly of the nature of a luxury, and as we cannot 
expect a man to accept a luxury, however m.uch he 
may appreciate it, in payment for work done for 
our satisfaction, we must provide some solid re- 
muneration, or at least the hope of it, if we expect 
such work to be performed. If we do not, it will 
be squeezed out of existence, by pursuits which 
lead at once to a maintenance, that is, by mere 
'* bread studies," which are said to be absorbing 
young men now, even in Germany* 



4 1 o Prize Emoluments 

Hence we see that endowments spent on 
fostering learning, such as Fellowships, are not 
eleemosynary, because they are bestowed, not out of 
compassion, but with a view to obtaining "valuable 
consideration" for the expenditure: the donors 
meet with due return for their gift, and part of 
the money so spent goes not to the candidates 
but to the teachers (see p. 69). Scholarships are 
Indeed eleemosynary In certain cases, as when 
they are appropriated to a particular class, clergy- 
men's sons for Instance, or to a certain district. 
For appropriation usually Implies a low standard 
of qualification, and the profit to society arising 
from giving an average youth greater opportu- 
nities than he otherwise would have had, Is not 
appreciable. Some youths who through benefac- 
tions are led to come to tbe University might per- 
haps be more useful to society if they engaged at 
once in the work of life. But where we find the 
special ability which marks the material, out of 
which men of learning or science are made, and its 
possessor is enabled by means of an endowment 
to turn his peculiar gift to the use of mankind, 
this is not an eleemosynary application of funds, 
because society is enriched by the cultivation 
of a rare faculty which would be lost without 
such assistance. 



in Education. ' 411 



A youth selected for such help who turns idle 
Is not performing his part of a bargain. Some- 
times young people regard the Scholarships 
not as entrusted to them for their improve- 
ment, but as something that they have earned 
by past exertions ; taking this view, the Scholar- 
ship goes only to stimulate work at school, a 
function which more properly belongs to school 
Exhibitions. If the student on obtaining a Scholar- 
ship on admission to a College conceives that his 
work is done and turns idle, the money is wasted 
or does positive harm, so that the power of with- 
drawing a Scholarship when the progress of the 
student Is unsatisfactory should always be retained 
and exercised on occasion. 

If the candidate be in good circumstances and 
would come to the University whether he got the 
Scholarship or not, the only good that arises from 
the expenditure lies In the stimulation of school 
work and In the moral advantage which It is to 
the son of a rich parent to feel that he has earned 
something for himself. This, though not very 
tangible, is not altogether to be disregarded, be- 
cause the sons of wealthy persons are sometimes 
injured for want of feeling the desire to do some- 
thing for themselves. The awarding of Scholar- 
ships by open Examination before admission, 



412 Prize Emoluments 

presents many difficulties ; it will be considered 
further on. 

The application of endowments to cheapen a 
certain sort of Professional education, that of the 
clergy for instance, is of a different kind ; it is 
not eleemosynary because a return is got for it, 
namely, a larger supply of candidates for ordi- 
nation, and possibly a consequent reduction in the 
stipends of curates. Endowments so applied are 
in fact given to the Church Establishment, and 
were often intended for this purpose. Preparation 
for Holy Orders being rendered less expensive, the 
number of qualified candidates will increase, but 
what the candidate saves on his education he may 
lose in the reduction of stipend consequent on 
the greater supply of curates ; if so, the gain 
will fall to the incumbent. But the practical 
effect would probably be that the number of 
curates would be so far increased by the facility 
of finding suitable persons, that the stipends would 
not fall, and the benefit of such an application of 
endowments would therefore be felt in the increased 
efficiency of the ministrations of the Church. 
Similar considerations apply also to the cheapen- 
ing of education for the Scholastic Profession. 

College Fellowships perform various functions 
which will be treated of in the next chapter. 



in Education. 413 



Here I am only concerned with the influence they 
exert on the higher education. This is very great, 
and extends beyond those who are themselves 
candidates for these emoluments. Moreover it is 
in the selection of candidates for Fellowships that 
the opposition between the two uses of Exami- 
nations, that of picking out the ablest competitor, 
and that of sanctioning a course of education, comes 
most prominently into view. Here we touch upon 
the mainspring of the whole system of our Higher 
Education. Boys at school are taught with a view 
to getting Scholarships at College. Youths are 
elected Scholars at a College because they are 
likely to be high Wranglers or to get First Classes, 
or to do well in some Special Examinations ; and 
students aim at these distinctions in order to 
be in the way for getting a Fellowship. Further, 
besides the competitors who have some pros- 
pect of success, we have a crowd of others, who 
though they may never have had hopes of a Fellow- 
ship, follow in the wake of those who look for one : 
they aim at a place in the list of University 
Honours, and their course of study, so far as it 
goes, is similar to that of candidates for Fellowships. 
Hence, if the course of study which is most 
conducive to getting first a Scholarship and then 
a Fellowship is not such as is most desirable 
in an educational point of view, the ill effects of 



414 Prize Emoluments 

this will be felt not only in the University, but 
also in the schools, which, in preparing stu- 
dents, are guided by the College Examinations 
for Scholarships and by those for University 
Honours. 

That we may understand how an Examination 
framed solely with a view to discriminating be- 
tween candidates may differ from one framed for 
educational purposes, I will take an illustration or 
two from elementary subjects, as being the most 
familiar ones. 

Examinations are conducted now chiefly by 
printed papers, and these papers come into the 
hands of the students (if we attempted to pre- 
vent this, we should only give an unfair advantage 
to those tutors who had contrived to secure pos- 
session of a copy) : the student's reading is 
therefore much directed by these papers. If his 
teacher advised him to learn what would evidently 
not be set, he would not take his advice, or only 
do so in a half-hearted way. Hence, if we mean 
to influence education, our Examination paper 
must represent the subject as zve wish it to be 
learnt; but some of the questions set with this view 
may be ineffective for bringing out ability, and may 
turn on points which would not come into use in the 
practical employment of the knowledge. If there- 
fore we are in search of a person who is to win 



m Edu.catio7t. 415 



credit in his future career, as a man of talent, 
or a discoverer, we must set a paper of a differ- 
ent character from that which we should draw 
up as a guide to sound study. 

For instance, we will take Geometry, and sup- 
pose that we are examining youths for a mathe- 
matical Scholarship before admission at College. 
The demonstrations of the known theorems will be 
equally well done by many of the competitors; they 
will therefore be useless for the Examiner who 
wants to find out the most promising candidate. 
The writing of them out is wearisome, it takes up 
time, and withdraws attention from those questions 
which are designed to bring out ability, so that for 
the imrnediate purpose of the Examiner, questions 
on these theorems had better not be set; but if it 
becomes the practice to set no simple propositions, 
propositions will no longer be learned, at least 
not for production, and yet even the best candi- 
dates derive profit from being forced to learn them, 
while the inferior ones would get no good, worth 
considering, from the subject if they did not do so. 
Tf then those questions only are set which help 
to bring out promising men; — those questions, that 
is, which serve best for selection, — then the in- 
fluence of this Examination upon education may 
be a mischievous one. 

Let us take an actual case. An Examiner 



41 6 Prize Emoluments 

who was asked to set a classical paper for the 
University Local Examinations, the primary object 
of which is educational, once remonstrated at being 
directed to set grammatical questions. These, he 
said, were often answered best by dull boys ; they 
took up much of the time allowed for the papers 
and gave the Examiner useless trouble. His 
experience, he added, was that a few well chosen 
pieces for translation, without any questions, effected 
the purpose better; he had been in the habit of 
setting papers for Government Examinations, in 
which right selection only was aimed at. Taking 
his own view, he was no doubt right; but as we 
wish boys to learn grammar, it is necessary that 
they should find questions on grammar in the 
papers which are set them. 

Moreover in an educational Examination 
" marks " are given according to regular rules, a 
kind of understanding is implied, that the pupil 
will obtain a fair return for every portion of his 
work, and an Examiner in a set subject aims at 
making an exhaustive paper upon it, so that a 
pupil may find opportunity for shewing what know- 
ledge he has acquired. As has been said (p. 348) 
credit must then be given even for imperfect 
knowledge, because it is not supposed to have 
reached its final state: we are valuing the crop 
while it is still growing. 



in Educatio7i. 4 1 7 



But in Examinations used to test ability, the 
Examiner should not be fettered by any such 
implied contract, he must be free to be guided by 
impression ; for he wants to find out, not what the 
man has learned, but what he has become by the 
process of learning, and he may judge best by 
symptoms casually disclosed (see Chap. ix.)» If 
we wanted to pick out a classical scholar, a piece of 
Latin Prose Composition grammatically correct, 
but wholly wanting in spirit and in idiom, might 
go absolutely for nothing, but it would be unjust 
and inconsistent with our purpose if we gave it no 
credit in the annual Examination of a School or 
College. 

Examinations of Schools present a particular 
case, for in them a chief object is to see 
whether the masters have taught what they 
should have done. The Examiner sets ques- 
tions to find out whether boys are familiar with 
a certain construction in syntax, or a certain 
artifice in solving equations, because a teacher 
ought to have given this knowledge to his pupils. 
This differs from the course that would be 
followed in examining for a Scholarship, where 
the Examiner wants to see what there is in 
the candidate, and avoids questions which only 
shew whether his attention has been called to 
L. ' .27 



41 8 Prize Emoluments 

some particular point. Thus the Examiner who 
wants to select the ablest youth, for an open 
Scholarship for instance, acts almost in opposition 
to the teacher; the one appears to be trying to 
baffle the other. The youth is trained to make a 
show, and the Examiner mentally tries to clear 
away the effects of training. Of two boys, who 
get equal marks, one having been well taught, and 
the other ill taught, the Examiner would not hesi- 
tate to choose the last. One may be as good as he 
ever will be ; the other is pretty sure to improve. 

This may seem discouraging to teachers, for 
the better the teaching the greater is the deduc- 
tion mentally made by the Examiner, who has to 
judge not about the actual knowledge possessed, 
but the promise of performance three years later. 
This hardship belongs to the "open Scholar- 
ship" system, and is inseparable from it. Exhi- 
bitions given away at School operate more 
satisfactorily, because they are awarded to those 
who do best in the aggregate work of the school. 
A diligent boy may hereby surpass a cleverer 
one, but the School does not want to find where 
the greatest natural ability lies, but to reward 
steadiness and intelligence: in this case good and 
careful teaching meets with the recognition it 
deserves. 



in Education. 419 



The points of contrast here brought out be- 
tween examinations used in selection and those 
used for education, may be noted also in the higher 
examinations, but they are much less marked ; be- 
cause, in an examination of great extent, sub- 
jects are treated in such a complete manner that 
acquaintance with a few special points goes for 
very little, and Examiners may take It for granted 
that all candidates have been properly taught. 
Moreover, as education proceeds the more nearly 
it approaches to self- education, and the more 
therefore we see of the man himself in the 
quality of his work. 

In a comprehensive examination, originality 
will come out somewhere, and general strength 
is sure to make its mark ; so that an exami- 
nation at the end of a long educational course 
will be a good guarantee that one who gains 
distinction in it is an able, as well as a 
highly-instructed man, though it may not serve 
to pick out the very ablest from among half 
a dozen talented competitors. I have shewn 
however, in the fourth Chapter, that it is hardly 
possible to effect this at all in a way that shall 
be quite satisfactory. Examiners vary much as 
to what they mean by ability, and as to how they 
judge of the indications of it ; and if the ob- 

27 — 2 



420 Prize Emolumcnis 

ject is to select those who are most hkely to 
make a figure in hfe, as it sometimes is in the 
case of Fellowships, physical causes and moral 
qualities will operate with such force as often to 
falsify our prognostications. But if we are guided 
by Examinations connected with a sound educa- 
tional course of considerable length, the mere fact 
that a young man has steadily followed it through- 
out, and has not flinched from the drudgery it 
involves, affords us a moral index which com- 
pensates in a degree for the examination being 
less suited than a special one might be for 
" bring-ing- out the cleverest man." 

I dwell upon this point because, as I have 
said, the possibility of finding a satisfactory solu- 
tion to the difficulties connected with our subject 
depends upon whether educational examinations 
can be used for the selection of candidates for 
appointments, and the like. If they can give 
results accurate enough to serve as a guide 
in the dispensing of patronage, then, what in the 
first Chapter I have called the aiitagonism of the 
two purposes of examinations will disappear, and 
the tutor will no longer be distracted by seeing 
that one course is best for the good of the 
pupil, and a different one is most conducive to 
his success in examination. When this comes 



in Education. 42 1 



about, the patronage disposed of by competition 
will, in fact, become so much capital, applicable 
to providing a healthy stimulus for education. 

At present it often leads to a special kind of 
preparation, very effective for its end, and to 
young and plastic minds not quite so injurious as 
is commonly supposed, but still far from what 
we should desire, and which is very expensive. 
Many boys leave school directly they catch sight 
of the army examination : they take their fill of 
sports and enjoyments at school as a kind of 
carnival before the season of training for competi- 
tion. This disposable patronage is like a head of 
water-power : every drop is wanted, in these days 
of easy going, to drive the School Mill, but a 
great part is now diverted to little sets of works 
elsewhere, which it drives briskly enough. Here 
we have needless waste and conflict. 

The freedom and diversity of education in 
England (see pp. 67, 203) afford difficulties in the 
way of employing the school examinations, which 
are educational, for disposing of patronage. Some 
classes or districts or interests may gain or lose 
an advantage by such a plan ; and it will be 
said that they do so, whether it be the fact or not. 
Moreover, this freedom of the higher education 
has some deep-lying advantages which make up in 
part for the want of regular system and the incon- 



42 2 Prize Emoluments 

veniences which come of it, and this absence of 
uniformity is quite EngHsh and dear to many 
Enghshmen. 

I have hopes, however, that attention will be 
called to the subject of the consolidation of 
examinations, because I foresee that the mofiey 
question will shortly become serious, and on this 
point the public is not deaf. The cost of exami- 
nations is now becoming very great, both to the 
Government, who pay for the competitions, and 
to the schools, or in fact the parents, who pay 
for educational examinations. By combining the 
two examinations, each party would save half 
the cost, one set of machinery would do instead 
of two, and boys would not be led to sup- 
pose that they are to play at school and go to 
a tutor's to learn. Not only is the amount 
of examining which now goes on very expensive 
in money, but it consumes the time and energy 
of men whom the country wants for better things. 
The periods during which our learned men 
and teachers are set free from their stated occu- 
pations, and of which they want every moment 
either to recruit their brains or to keep them- 
selves abreast of the progress of their department 
of thought, are often mis-spent in conducting 
examinations and looking over papers. 

The solution of our difficulties must be sought 



in Education. 42; 



in some system of examination of schools. That 
now carried on by the Joint University Board may 
serve as a specimen. A good Examination at the 
Universities in disciplinary subjects, affording 
room for distinction after a few terms of study, 
but giving no title^, like Moderations at Oxford, 
might work well in conjunction with this plan. 
Those candidates only should be allowed to 
compete for the better class of appointments who 
had reached a good position in some such exa- 
mination ; and further discrimination might be 
effected by a brief examination in a restricted 
number of subjects of the "Arts" class. The 
marks would have to be allotted on some system 
which would give weight to excellence in a single 
branch (see Chap. ix.). In the case of University 
rewards, the emoluments are in the hands of the 
academical bodies themselves, and they can set 
the example of a system of selection which, so far 
as It depends on examinations, shall be based on 
those which are framed as supports to the highest 
education. 

1 Titles mislead, and come to be coveted for themselves, not as tokens 
of education : they obtain a market value, and then a demand is made for 
a description cheaper in point of the time and attainments required. 
In Germany, three years of study is required, but no first Degree is given. 
Our B.A. is historical, and it serves instead of such State requirements 
to attract students. Fresh Titles -would bring in money, but would 
intensify the notion that a person must be paid for anything he learns. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EXAMINATIONS FOR COLLEGE FELLOWSHIPS AND 
SCHOLARSHIPS. 

It must not be supposed, from the heading of 
this Chapter, that I intend it as a pamphlet on 
the reorganisation of Colleges. I may make 
general suggestions, and I shall refer to a scheme 
traced in outline in the Third Report of the 
Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction, but 
I cannot enter on the points of celibacy, tenure, 
pay, and retiring pensions ; and yet it is on the way 
in which these matters are dealt with that the 
success of legislation on the subject must depend. 
Fellowships fulfil at present very complex 
functions. 

I. They constitute the pay for years of sys- 
tematic study. All diligent students cannot indeed 
get Fellowships, but the class is remunerated 
by the possibility of some among them attain- 
ing large rewards. 

II. Moreover, Fellowships fulfil certain social 
and political purposes (see p. 69). They serve 
as "ladders" or shafts, whereby access to the 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 425 

surface is opened to the lower-lying strata of 
society ; but this function is disconnected with 
academical ends ; it has nothing to do with the 
advancement of learning, it is accidentally ful- 
filled by Fellowships, now that they have come to 
be annuities dissociated from duties, but it might, 
as far as logical considerations go, be discharged 
by pensions from the Civil List, for it touches 
the State rather than the University. The present 
condition of things has, however, a great advan- 
tage, because the Universities and Colleges are, 
of all bodies in England, the most free from poli- 
tical feeling and the chance of jobbery. 

III. Fellowships also assist in making up 
the income of the tutorial staff, though this effect 
is much impaired by the allowing of non-residence, 
because a resident Fellow will not reckon his 
dividend as pay for work done if he can receive 
the same sum without doing work at all. 

IV. Further, these Fellows, or the Seniors of 
them, but very commonly the whole body, have 
the government of the College in their hands. 

It will be seen that these functions may be in- 
congruous. A youth may have attained a certain 
proficiency, and have a right to the wages of his 
work, but he may be unsuited in point of temper 
or from want of power of keeping order or of 



426 Examinations foi^ College 

commanding attention for taking part in College 
work, and he may be as far as possible from being 
the sort of person who would be selected to be 
put on the Governing Body of a place of the 
hicjher education. 

It seems to me that our difficulties, which 
arise from a Fellowship having two or more 
functions to fulfil, will be best met by having two 
or three classes of Fellowships,^ — call the lowest 
of them Studentships or what you will, — and by 
separating these functions, assigning some to one 
class of Fellowships and some to another. The 
view taken by the Royal Commission on Scien- 
tific Instruction of 1873 agrees in most respects 
with mine, I shall give In an Appendix to this 
book that part of their Report which treats of 
Fellowships, with a few remarks. This will fur- 
nish the reader with a scheme of reconstruction, 
based on the principles which I proceed to ex- 
plain. I must say a few words to shew how 
Fellowships came to be what they are. 

The middle ages developed many forms of 
corporate life ; one of these was the Academical 
College, a brotherhood banded together for quiet 
study. A few scholars might receive instruction, 
but It was not founded as a school : authority 
would have been more concentrated If it had 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 427 

been so. The idea that lay at the root of it 
was that of a Family, and a new Fellow was 
adopted into it, being chosen apparently from 
the knowledge that the others had of him. 
University distinction could not have been con- 
sidered, as candidates were elected before they 
were of standing for the complete Degree, 
and it was for this that the most important 
Disputations took place. Even in the few cases 
in which the Fellows could be laymen, celi- 
bacy was made essential, not, as it seems to 
me, from monastic notions, but because it was 
essential to the contemplated kind of common 
life. Fellows received no money from the 
College, but only shelter and humble fare ; and 
they were bound to reside in College during 
nearly the whole year, unless they had leave of 
absence ; thus a Fellowship was valueless to a 
married man. When we approach the Reforma- 
tion, we find, from the statutes of the foundations 
of that period, that the Colleges had come to be 
regarded as places of education; for stipends are 
attached to educational ofiices^ and provision is 
made for College discipline. It was not till 
the end of the 17th century that the surplus of 
funds beyond the household expenses was divided 
among the Fellows : this changed the nature of 



428 Examinations for College 

the institution altogether. After this, a Fellow- 
ship had attractions for a non-resident. The idea 
of Family was weakened, and the "ladder" theory 
then became applicable, for a non-resident used 
his Fellowship to push his way in a profession. 
Further, when Examinations for University 
Honours were introduced, and these, or Special 
Examinations in the subjects of University study 
were used as the modes of selecting persons for 
Fellowships, then, these emoluments began to act 
as a recompense for diligence and intellectual 
distinction. The new Statutes given to the 
Colleges in 1857 — 1860, upheld in the main the 
existing practices, and under these Statutes Fel- 
lowships are now held under various kinds of 
tenure — sometimes for life, sometimes for a term 
of years, sometimes with, sometimes without re- 
striction as to celibacy and the taking of Holy 
Orders ; but, in general, a Fellow of a College 
is simply an annuitant, receiving from ^225 to 
^350 per annum. In many cases he is one of 
the Governing Body of the College, and is bound 
to attend College meetings, but has no other 
duties to perform qua Fellow, though the Tutors 
and College officers are almost always taken from 
among the Fellows. 

These Fellowships are bestowed, speaki7ig 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 429 

roughly, either by special Examination open to 
the University, or with reference to the place 
obtained in the lists of University Honours. 
When Special Examinations were relied upon 
altogether, it would sometimes occur to candidates 
to avoid the Honour Schools altogether, and to 
read directly for the kind of Examination by 
which the Fellowship was bestowed. This tended 
to lessen both the glory of the College to which 
an aspirant belonged, and also the prestige of 
University Honours. Steps were taken to dis- 
courage it, and at Oxford, where Special Examina- 
tions had been, and are still, generally employed, 
a provision was made by many of the College 
Statutes of twenty years ago, that no one should be 
elected to a Fellowship unless he had obtained 
a place in the first class of one of the Honour 
Schools. 

At Cambridge, the Colleges, with the exception 
of Trinity College, were formerly guided in award- 
ing Fellowships by the result of the Mathemati- 
cal Tripos, and by the other kinds of University 
distinction, prizes and the like, obtained by the 
candidates. Classics were scantily represented, 
compared with Mathematics, until about 1825, 
when the Classical Tripos was instituted. Other 
Triposes have, since, been taken into account. 



430 Examinations for College 

The Examination at Trinity College, which 
was confined to the Bachelor Scholars of the Col- 
lege, was in some degree educational ; it afforded 
scope for distinction in Classics, and, in fact, kept 
that study alive in the University in old times. 

Here we must mark how these different 
modes of testing qualifications for Fellowships 
act with reference to the leading purposes which 
they have in view. 

The system of Open Special Examinations 
appears to be most directly suited to securing the 
ablest men for a particular College, while by 
adopting the University Examinations as a guide, 
the Fellowships supply inducements to study for 
University Honours. In Cambridge phrase, they 
"keep up the Triposes." 

The respective advantages of the two plans, 
viewed in the interests of the Colleges and of the 
Fellows themselves, were closely canvassed when 
the change of College Statutes took place (see 
p. 20), and is discussed in the Report of the 
Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction given 
in the Appendix. The first plan may act best for 
selection, in certain cases. The College that 
has the first choice out of a batch of candi- 
dates does better, and that which has the last 
choice comes off worse, than each would under 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 43 r 

the other plan. The system may lead to a 
little manceuvring in order to get the first choice. 
So far as rewarding merit goes, one system 
answers as well as the other. Under both systems 
the same persons would get Fellowships In 
nineteen cases out of twenty, and In the twentieth 
case It would probably be an open question 
whether the person elected under one system 
or the other was most deserving: hence It is 
only a question of the distributio7i of able men 
among the Colleges. We should hear complaints 
soon enough If deserving persons went unre- 
warded, and no such complaints arise. A College 
however may prefer judging of candidates for 
itself to accepting the award of the University, 
for persons commonly have confidence in their 
own powers of discrimination, and think that, as 
being the best judges, they will get the best 
bargains. 

Economical considerations are all on the side 
of adopting the Degree Examinations as a crite- 
rion. For if a candidate for a Fellowship has to 
wait for two or three years, and during this time 
has to keep his knowledge in a state fit for pro- 
duction, this amounts to his risking much more 
on the venture, and he will require a larger prize 
in proportion to what he is called upon to stake. 



432 Examinations for College 

This, according to my view, as will be seen pre- 
sently, is important, for since with the multiplica- 
tion of branches of study we require more numerotcs 
rewards, the demand on our resources will be 
heavy. It is therefore important to keep down 
the amounts to the lowest point at which they will 
effect what we want, and this point is lower under 
the latter scheme than under the former. I think 
that the prospect of from ^120 to ^200 for from 5 
to 7 years would furnish sufficient stimulus, and that 
in fact the students would work as hard for these 
emoluments as they do now for nearly twice that 
amount; but then they must be set free from 
Examinations as soon as they have got their 
Degrees. 

Society is chiefly interested in the influences 
exerted on education by these different ways of be- 
stowing Fellowships. If one way does more good 
than another, it will tend to a larger production 
of the class of men for the sake of whom reward 
Fellowships exist. The system of Special Ex- 
aminations for each College held as occasions 
arise, is ill adapted to fostering a spirit of "re- 
search." The candidate who has taken his Degree 
should read in a spirit different from that of 
one looking to an Examination; he should no 
more burden himself with matter merely for pro- 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 433 

duction, than a person would who was reading with 
a view to literary work. But the possibility of a 
call to display his cleverness at any moment 
keeps him always on the strain ; the bow is 
always to be ready for discharge ; and so every 
passage that he reads is considered with the view 
of being turned to account, in answering a 
question or in an essay. So much is this the case, 
that I have been told by candidates, that when 
after a long course they had ceased reading for 
Fellowships, and this artificial stimulus had been 
removed, all reading seemed to them for a time 
to have lost its interest. 

It is well, indeed, that a man should go on 
studying after his degree, but then he should 
study as a man studies ; and study which is sub- 
ordinated to an impending Examination is piLpil 
study: it is directed to learning, not to judging. 
The pupil has to keep up skill of certain sorts, to 
accumulate knowledge, and to hold it by him 
in a fit state for production on demand. The 
constant anxiety lest some of this information 
should slip away engenders a feverish habit of 
mind. These evils are pointed out by Mr Sayce, 
in the article so often quoted, with reference to 
Oxford. The Cambridge system has produced 
evils of another kind. Educational machinery was 
L. 28 



434 Examinations for College 



used to effect a nice sifting and sorting ; it was 
modified to effect this object the better, and thereby 
served its proper function the worse. The range 
of the University Honour Examinations has been 
widened to include the subjects which belong to 
the professed savant, because the Colleges wanted 
to find out who were great Classics or great Mathe- 
maticians. Such persons would give ^clat to 
the College as Tutors and would add to the 
intellectual character of the Society. The result 
is, that the special course has become too exten- 
sive for the period of residence, that general 
education is sacrificed to make time for it, that 
study is hurried and strained, and what the 
Germans call "tumultuous," and that excessive 
attention is drawn to the points which mark 
ascertainable differences between men : in conse- 
quence of which the qualities which produce these 
differences, such as ingenuity and powers of 
imitation, are cultivated to an undue extent. 

I will now lay down the general outline of 
a plan which would, I think, answer the ends in 
view. 

We want to fulfil two purposes above all; first, 
to induce able young men to pursue some kinds of 
study farther and more systematically than they will 
do without a prospect of recompense. The Govern- 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 435 



ment offers such prospects in the way of Indian and 
other appointments which are open to competition, 
and the Universities must offer Hke advantages or 
lose the able men. Secondly, we want to select for 
the Colleges the fittest and ablest men for their 
staff and Governing Body. We have hitherto 
been trying to effect these two purposes with one 
set of machinery, and we have met with imperfect 
success. It seems an obvious expedient to have 
different sets of machinery for the different objects. 

We must recompense young men for applying 
to study which is not remunerative, instead of 
taking to a business which will yield them an 
income, but we need not give them more than will 
bring us the men we want. At present our re- 
wards, though not too numerous, are unnecessarily 
large; we could obtain what we want for a smaller 
outlay. 

To supply rewards '^pure and simple'' the 
Colleges might turn some Fellowships into Stu- 
dentships of two grades of value, tenable for a 
short period after degree, free from all restrictions 
and all duties, but not conferring any authority 
whatever. They probably would be called Junior 
Fellowships, but I call them here Studentships, to 
avoid confusion of terms. To get a clear concep- 
tion we may suppose that the lower class would 

28—2 



43 6 ExamiTiatioiis for College 

be worth ^120 and the higher ^180 per annum, 
tenable for five years ; or a smaller sum might be 
given, and the period of tenure be lengthened. 

The advantage of having two classes of Stu- 
dentships would be of the same kind as that of 
having two or more classes of Scholarships — we 
might adapt the recompense to the work done. 

I have said that I think that these Studentships 
should be bestowed according to the result of the 
Educational Examinations of the University. But 
we have also to consider the Further Examina- 
tions, as for shortness' sake I will call them ; these 
would embrace the highest branches of knowledge 
treated in the way required by the professional 
savant. They would therefore carry weight as 
affording recommendation for Professorships and 
College Lectureships, to some of which Fellow- 
ships might be attached. But these Further 
Examinations may possibly require more direct 
support than this. The Studentships might some- 
times be given for the Further Examination taken 
in addition to the Educational one ; or a person 
who had obtained a Studentship of smaller value 
might be promoted to one of greater value on 
obtaining distinction in the Further Examination. 
There would probably be some branches of learn- 
ing in which the division into educational and 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 437 

scientific departments with Examinations for each 
could not at present be made, and emoluments 
would be given for these by a single Examination 
as now. 

Besides these Studentships a certain number 
of Fellowships would be retained. The Govern- 
ing Body would consist of the Head and the 
Fellows. The chief College offices should be an- 
nexed to Fellowships, which would become endow- 
ments of these offices and be vacated with them, 
like Professorships. In addition to these Fellow- 
ships attached to College offices there might 
be as many more as the funds will supply ; these 
should be held for a term of years, or, possibly 
for life, by persons who had attained distinction 
in science or learning, or who had done specially 
good work in education or literature. These 
Fellows would strengthen the Governing Body. 

The Studentships, being intended solely as 
a support to the Honour Schools, should be 
awarded mainly with regard to distinctions ob- 
tained in them, but any College or University 
Prizes, and indeed all that a student had 
done in his Academical career, might be taken 
into account, and allowance be made in cases of 
illness. The bugbear of jobbery, which was at 
one time always before the eyes of University 



43 8 Examinations for College 



Reformers, need not make us afraid of leaving 
room for discretion: public opinion is so strong 
that there is no fear of favour. There is more 
fear that electors will be afraid of acting- on their 
private convictions when they think that a candi- 
date deserves a Studentship, but where circum- 
stances have prevented his getting the full amount 
of distinction to shew. An electoral body should 
have a wide discretion, and as the student elected 
would have no voice in the government, and there- 
fore no party or political feeling need intrude, the 
Fellows might be as thoroughly trusted to dispose 
of Studentships, as they now are to give away 
Scholarships. 

The Fellows proper should not be chosen with 
sole reference to Examinations ; but with a view, 
in the case of the College officers, to their fitness 
for their post ; and in the case of the others, to 
the literary, or scientific, or educational work which 
they have done ; these last should be chosen on the 
same grounds that Professors would be appointed. 
The Fellowships would serve as inducements 
for the holders of Studentships to apply them- 
selves to earnest study. At present Fellows are 
elected because they have laid in an extensive 
apparatus with which they may do something if 
they like, but they have become habituated to 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 439 

look to advancement as their motive, and after 
being elected such motives are suddenly with- 
drawn. To have an assured maintenance and 
to live among a critical society may prove adverse 
to laborious investigation and to publication. If 
an Examination is needed for choosing Fellows, it 
should turn greatly on Dissertations (see p. 285); 
but most weight should be given to what the can- 
didate has done after reaching manhood, in the 
way of writing, lecturing, or scientific work: the 
prospect of meeting with persons likely to work 
in earnest will be much improved by selecting 
those who have already embarked in independent 
study. The surest way of getting what we want, 
be it '' research," or learned books, or what not, 
is to offer high rewards for good performances 
when they appear. 

In electing to a Fellowship the distinction 
gained by the individual at his Degree and more 
particularly in the Further Examination, sup- 
posing that there should be one in his line of 
study, might be taken into some account, as 
vouchers for the possession of knowledge, as 
they would be in electing a Professor. There 
should be no limits as to the age or standing 
of candidates for Fellowships, though there might 
be such in the case of Studentships. 



440 Examinations for College 

Again, in distributing rewards, account must be 
taken of the need there is for them. Unnecessary 
rewards, Hke bounties on a manufacture, do harm. 
If study were in itself remunerative, we should 
want no recompense for it, and the funds ex- 
pended in this way would become applicable to 
other purposes. Hence the more nearly a kind 
of study approaches to a Professional training, the 
less it will be necessary to bestow in order to 
keep it going; for professional study provides its 
own remuneration ; the skill acquired is in itself 
a valuable possession, A study, however, which, 
like Law, is not carried on in a strictly profes- 
sional way at the University, would not be pursued 
there, in consequence of this margin of difference, 
unless it carried some rewards, or was supported 
by being accepted as part of a professional 
course in the Examination. But smaller re- 
wards, the ;^i20 Studentships, for instance, would 
suffice for the branches of study which are con- 
nected with Professions, The broader the margin 
above spoken of the more will have to be given. 

It would, however, be no gain to education 
that the whole force of College advantages should 
be expended in support of the University course, 
unless this University course were a good and 
complete one. I have said that I propose to 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 441 

devote the Studentships entirely to the support 
of the University Honours, in order to induce the 
promising young men to provide themselves with 
a high and complete education. This makes it 
imperative on the University to lay down courses 
of education proper for persons of various turns of 
mind, not unduly fostering particular kinds of 
talent, by framing Examinations with a view to 
finding out the persons of most brain power, but 
recognizing the need of Supplementary Studies 
(see pp. 307, 320), in combination with those which 
bring only particular sets of faculties into play. 
Hitherto in recasting- the Honour Examinations 
at Cambridge, the Fellowships have sometimes 
proved an impediment. The question has arisen,. 
How, if we reduce the efficacy of our Examinations 
as means of discrimination, are we to give away 
the Fellowships ? How shall we secure that they 
will fall to men of real power ? Thus the Ex- 
amination has been made subservient to the dis- 
posing of emoluments, the raison d'etre of which 
emoluments is, or should be, to lend support to 
the education that is represented by these Exami- 
nations. 

Inasmuch as excellence ■ in one branch has 
been found to be the best criterion of power, each 
branch of study has been carried further and 



442 Examinations for College 



further, in order to afford more scope for the dis- 
play of special powers. The old College courses 
of study in Cambridge were often wide and 
liberal, and the pupils looked to the College Ex- 
amination at the end of the year, which involved 
well-chosen subjects of different descriptions; but 
of late persons have become impatient of every 
thing that draws them from the course in which 
they are to run for their great prize. Moreover 
the public rates the success of a College, not by 
the good done to the average student — for of this 
it knows nothing — but by the distinction won in 
Honours, This urges teachers in a direction which 
they are often inclined to follow, for those who 
.have just won renown in one of these special 
arenas, feel a keen interest in these conflicts, 
they desire to fight their battles over again in the 
persons of their pupils. This state of things may 
be altered by disposing of the Fellowships (as op- 
posed to Studentships) by means which turn only 
in a small degree on the result of Examinations. 
The College will not feel that its credit depends 
on those who hold mere Studentships : and it will 
not be intent on securing men of power for them. 
For unless the Student become a Lecturer he will 
have little connexion with the College, or op- 
portunity of conferring credit upon it. Studentships 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 443 

should be the more numerous because the Educa- 
tional Examinations by which they ought to be 
awarded may be a less exact criterion of merit 
than those now in use. The Educational Exami- 
nations will be discriminating enough, provided we 
have plenty of prizes to give away ; if prizes were 
few we could not be sure of awarding them rightly. 
The Examination for the Indian Civil Service (see 
p. 322) answers its purpose because so many 
candidates are accepted, that all the able men 
may be taken. 

Having got rid of the causes which lead people 
to overvalue prodigious and precocious know- 
ledge of one sort, we may arrive at a sound and 
philosophical University course for the higher 
men^. 

The first requisite, as I have said, is to bring 
the range of the Educational Examinations 
for Honours within such limits that a youth of 
ability, with a good school education, may cover 
it within the duration of his University course. 
University Honours should depend mainly on 

^ The course for the Ordinary Degree at present is fairly enough suited 
to the wants and capacities of the class of men who engage in it, both at 
Oxford and Cambridge. At Oxford the general education of the Candi- 
dates for Honours is well provided for by Moderations, but at Cambridge 
it is at present (1877) represented by a wholly inadequate Examination. 
A scheme was brought forward some years ago, but the best part of it was 
thrown out, and the present transitory condition is most unsatisfactory. 



444 Examhiations for College 

University work. If the course be too heavy for 
the time allowed, or if it require long previous 
training, some youths will be taken off their 
general work at school, and be put into a narrow 
groove at a time when their minds particularly 
require general expansion ; or else they will defer 
coming to the University. If we reduced our 
course in point of time, retaining a creditable 
standard, the only effect would be to drive the 
able youths to a special trainer for a year before 
coming up, and some might be incapacitated or 
discouraged from competing, owing to finding 
themselves at a disadvantage from bad schooling, 
or from their parents having been uncertain about 
their destination. It is well that persons should 
have a chance of repairing such injuries by their 
own exertions. This is a strong argument against 
shortening the University course; it would not 
leave room for recovering lost ground, and so 
would practically confine University Honours to 
those who had had judicious parents. The Vaca- 
tions afford no room for extra work, as the 
Honour men already use them for study. At 
Cambridge there is in fact a Vacation Term 
during July and August. 

Secondly, the three years from i8 to 21, the 
proper season for University residence, should, as 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 445 

I have already said, not be devoted entirely to a 
single branch of study. For all but very strong and 
precocious minds it is too early to turn the whole 
mental energy into one channel, and there is not 
one student in twenty who has been sufficiently 
educated "all round," when he comes to the Uni- 
versity, to be properly remitted to a special study. 
I conceive that the first year or year and a quarter 
should be given to a course comprising at least 
two branches of study, which should be supple7nen- 
tary in some measure to each other: but one or 
both of these might bear on the courses in which 
the Student ultimately aims at Honours. 

By restricting the range of these Honour 
Schools and putting those abstruser parts of the 
studies which concern the man of learning only, 
into a Further Examination, we should enable 
some to take double Honours, which have become 
rare. Strong men, who can reach excellence in a 
single branch, had best concentrate their efforts 
on this ; but some minds will thrive best on a 
more varied diet. The Further Examinations 
should be held of course subsequently to the 
Educational Examination which should give the 
Degree ; and I contemplate that the results of 
these Further Examinations, for which the Can- 
didates in each branch would be few, should 



44^ Examinations for College 



appear in a class list containing three or 
four classes with the names alphabetically ar- 
ranged. In the Educational Examination I 
would place the names as nearly in order of 
merit as the case admits; when the subjects 
are difficult to compare, as in Natural Science, 
we must be content with a rough classification. 
Electors to Studentships might, if they wanted 
more guidance, require testimonials from Ex- 
aminers, or obtain access to the marks (see 
Chap. IX.). 

The interval between the two Examinations 
might be left undefined. I do not see why a person 
should be excluded by reason of his standing from 
engaging in the Further Examination, as the 
distinction of one person in it would not involve 
the depression of another; at least the superior 
'limit of age might be placed high. 

I have referred in p. 69, to the p7'oper propor- 
tions of the funds to be spent in rewards and in 
other ways. 

Distinctions and recompense are not the only 
ways of supporting education; we may cheapen 
it as well as reward it. How much should we 
do in one direction, and how much in the 
other? Let us consider the effect that would be 
produced by expending all our College funds in 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 447 

providing gratuitous instruction. That is to say, 
in paying the Tutors as the Deans are now paid, 
out of corporate revenues ; or, as this would make 
but a very trifling difference in the whole expense 
of a student's maintenance, , let us suppose that 
we provide gratuitous lodging also, but give no 
rewards for attainments. In the case of the well- 
to-do classes, education would not be affected ; 
the same persons would come to the University 
who come now. We might attract by reason of 
cheapness some poorer men of moderate capacity, 
but the abler ones would lose more by not having 
Scholarships and Fellowships to look to than they 
would gain from the smaller cost of instruction. In 
fact, the advantage would be to the stupid at the 
expense of the abler. When this point was 
debated on the occasion of the last University 
Commission, it was thought preferable to spend 
the funds that were available, in increasing Scho- 
larships whereby the abler men would get the 
means of paying tutors, rather than to give in- 
struction or maintenance below cost-price. The 
question of the way of disposing of Scholarships 
is an important one, and will come before us 
presently. 

If we are right in concluding that without 
rewards we can not look for high proficiency, the 



44 8 Examinations for College 

conversion of the prize emoluments into gratuitous 
instruction would take off all our high class 
students except those who had an innate love, not 
merely for intellectual pursuits, but also for following 
them in a strictly regular way. Hence Society 
would not get the cultivated class we have sup- 
posed her to require, but a largess would be con- 
ferred on parents throughout the country. 

With regard to men of moderate abilities 
and industry, I doubt whether it matters much 
to the country whether they come to the Uni- 
versity or not. Some are the better and a 
few the worse for so doing, but the benefit is 
more to the man in " social advantages," than to 
society at large. I f professional education be cheap- 
ened, I have shewn how it would operate in the 
case of the Clergy and Schoolmasters. I n Law and 
Medicine, an increase in the number of practitioners 
must reduce the average income of the individual, 
and as the fees are fixed by professional rule, the 
public would gain nothing. But, then, other walks 
of life — those which the young men would have 
entered upon if they had not, by increased facili- 
ties of instruction, been induced to become lawyers 
or medical men — would benefit by being relieved 
of pressure. Thus, theoretically speaking, the 
salaries of clerks in offices might be raised by the 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 449 

Universities offerino- orratuitous instruction in Law 
and Medicine. 

Now let us look at the other side of the ques- 
tion. The students who want instruction in the 
very highest branches of learning or in abstruse 
sciences are few. In some kinds of learning there 
are not enough pupils in all England wanting 
instruction to support a teacher, unless the rate 
of payment were so high as to be prohibitive. 
The student, who turns towards such recondite 
studies, designs to put himself in a position in 
which he will be fitted to render exceptional 
services to Society; and Society, besides inducing 
him so to do by offering him a reward for 
his learning when he has got it, may very 
properly help him in obtaining it. If, however, we 
establish our advanced teacher without providing 
any emoluments to be got by the learning he gives, 
the teacher would be almost without pupils, 
for though we may pay the teacher, the pupil 
has to find head work, and this he will not give 
for nothing. Hence we must first provide in- 
ducements to work, and then subsidize teachers 
for advanced study, especially for liberal studies 
which are not remunerative in themselves, or for 
recondite matters such as languages which are 
little cultivated; but to cheapen by means of en- 
L. 29 



45 o Examinations for College 

dowments an ordinary liberal education, such as is 
commonly wanted for the upper middle class, 
amounts to this, that the state or some endowed 
body hereby gives a largess to a section of the 
people by presenting them with what they would 
otherwise provide for themselves. 

This brings me to a point on which I must 
say a few v/ords. I feel that the sentiment which 
exists against the "mercenary spirit," as it is called, 
of Political Economy, may be exciteci by my 
supposing teaching and learning to be subject to 
the laws of that science. I am dealino^ with thinsfs 
in the mass, and have to consider the motives which 
actuate the majority. Many members of every 
class or profession will be actuated by the highest 
and most disinterested motives, but the action of 
the class, as a body, is usually determined by class 
interests (see p. 28). Some individuals will pursue 
learning "for its own sake," but by the mass of 
students and their parents, study will be mostly 
regarded in the same light as professional pursuits, 
namely, for what is to come of it, and it is for 
this mass that Institutions are framed. 

The expression "the love of learning for 
its own sake" requires consideration. We do 
not mean by it, I think, that nothiitg is to come 
of the learning. There are some people indeed 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 451 

who like to accumulate knowledge as a collector 
does curiosities, and who then throw it by, satisfied 
with possessing it ; but these are not the kind of 
people we want. We suppose then that the 
learning is to be used somehow, and if used, why 
not used in an Examination as well as in writing 
a book or a "Programm^," which is what the 
German student looks to doing? It seems to me 
that the difference lies chiefly in the Examina- 
tion use of knowledge being immediate and 
direct: the knowledge is delivered to the Ex- 
aminer much as it is received from the teacher. 
A German student works up his learning into a 
great book; this, it is true, is his way of getting 
consideration for it and answers to the Examina- 
tion use of it ; for the book may be simply an 
incumbrance to literature, and be written solely 
with a view to what a German student calls his 
"vorkommen," that is, his advancement; but still 
what he has learnt undergoes some transmutation 
in his mind. 

Again, when a student learns what is neces- 
sary for the thorough and intelligent exercise of 
his profession, in the way that a Civil Engineer 

1 On the taking of Degrees, on School Anniversaries and the like, 
Germans are expected to produce a Dissertation, called a "Progi-amm;" 
this serves for something to shew when they seek promotion. 

29 2 



452 Examinations for College 

will sometimes learn mathematics, then he has a 
genuine healthy interest in his subject, and is 
usually a satisfactory pupil. If he analysed his 
motives — a process which people are seldom the 
better or wiser for — he would find, I dare say, 
that he did not love mathematics for themselves, 
but because they would be of service to him ; 
but in fact he really meant to possess himself of 
them, and he would not, therefore, be satisfied with 
anything short of a thorough comprehension of 
each step of reasoning, and of the mode of using 
what he had learnt (see p. 354). 

If, therefore, by inducing people to "pursue 
knowledge for its own sake," we mean, leading 
them to learn it for their own use and not in 
order to dispose of it, when acquired, we get 
a definite meaning for the phrase. Examinations 
offer a market ready to hand, and lead people to 
look for "too quick returns," and in too direct a 
form : this is the evil to be combated. 

Let us now consider how the present Fellow- 
ship system works. A young man gets his Fel- 
lowship at twenty-three, and has then to take to a 
Profession. His learning has served its turn by 
being produced in the Examination and is likely 
to be thrown aside. To avoid this, we must pay 
not only for the knowledge being acquired, but 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 453 

for its being employed in the way we wish ; that is 
to say, we must hold out the prospect of further 
reward, for putting the acquired apparatus to good 
use. At present our whole reward is given for 
laying up the apparatus; some recompense, as we 
have seen, is required for this, but we need not 
give more than is necessary, and we should keep 
the Fellowships in reserve as rewards for the use 
made of the training and knowledge. 

The view of the Fellowship as a "ladder" to 
a position in life hardly comes before me now, 
but the Studentships would perform the " ladder" 
function to a certain extent, as well, for instance, 
as Fellowships did in the early part of the century, 
when they were of about the same value, relatively 
to prices, that I propose for the Studentships. 
This, as it appears, was a time when an unusual 
number of able young men from the Universities 
raised themselves by these " ladders" to leading 
positions in life. Overmuch pecuniary reward 
generates over-expectation and excessive wants, 
and if our young men are given such good in- 
comes at starting that they are led to believe 
themselves entitled to live on a higher and a 
more luxurious scale than their cotemporaries, we 
are doing the very reverse of assisting either 
them or the cause of science. The great advan- 



454 Examinations foj^' College 

tage of Germany as regards learning lies in its 
simplicity of ways of living. A large income is, 
or was, much less a social necessity there than 
it is with us. 

I will here, as I have promised (p. 67), glance 
at the way in which the problems that have 
occupied us have been dealt with in Germany. 

When writers find something wrong in their 
own neighbourhood, they will often indulge in 
the belief that things must be as they ought to 
be somewhere else; and educational writers turn 
to Germany as their happy land. Germany had 
many advantages as a cradle of cultivation, and 
has some still. They spring from the homely life 
of her middle class, and the absence of straining 
after social position. I hear that there are changes 
for the worse in these respects; still she is free 
from the mass of idlers, who in England are 
brought up to live on realized property. Parents 
there are on the side of education, and hard de- 
voted work is still part of the religion of the land. 
Yet while we are pointing to Germany, while 
our writers are talkino- of the "crowded lecture 
rooms of German Professors," and asking why we 
should want endowments when Germany does 
without them, German Professors of liberal "Arts" 
are complaining that though they may get an 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 455 

average audience of a dozen, the same students 
seldom drop in two days running; they cry out 
that the " Brodwissenschaften," that is to say, 
professional studies, carry off the students, that 
liberal education is on the decline, and that even 
those who pursue it follow it with a view to 
the scholastic profession; they tell us that endow- 
ments like English Fellowships are wanted for 
keeping the Higher Cultivation alive. 

It must not be supposed because there is 
no B.A. Degree that there are no Examina- 
tions in German Universities. Youths go to 
them commonly at twenty, that is two years later 
than they do with us, and their general education 
is pretty well vouched for by the Examinations 
on leaving school. There was formerly an Arts 
Examination in most Universities; this is now 
dropped, and I have heard the expediency 
of the step questioned ; but the Doctor's Degree, 
which answers to our Honours, is only con- 
ferred after a " rigor osuni Exameji''' and the 
diploma ""pro factdtate docendV is given by the 
result of an Examination of hisfh standard in 
what we should call " Arts," and the candidates 
are placed in four classes. Position in thess 
classes leads to income, for in Germany teach- 
ing and learning form perhaps a more lucrative 



45^ Examinations for College 

profession absohttely, and far more so relatively 
to what is made in other walks of life, than they do 
with us. There are in German-speaking countries 
looo Professors, two-thirds of whom receive sti- 
pends besides fees, and in many cases the emolu- 
ment is as good as is got in our own Universities. 
The German Professor is a person retained for 
the service of learning. He is kept free from 
worrying duties, which are inconsistent with study. 
He has no discipline to enforce. He does not 
pretend to teach, that is to say, to see that any 
one learns; he delivers what he has to say, as 
a preacher does; those come who like, and at the 
end of his three-quarters of an hour's address 
any pupil who has anything to ask him will 
find him happy to answer him; but he has no 
anxiety, no responsibilities to parents, no col- 
lision with pupils; so that his position is a good 
one for a person of a studious turn, and the 
German governments, who are acute on points of 
economy, act on the principle that a savant may 
be secured for a moderate payment, because the 
market for savants is limited; but when they want 
a man of administrative energy for the manage- 
ment of a scientific department or for maintaining 
discipline in a place of education, they know that 
they must pay more, because this kind of abiHty has 



Felloivships and Scholarships. 457 

a ready market and can secure its price. Hence, 
though the enthusiasm for knowledge is I believe 
stronger in Germany than in England, still the 
position of equilibrium of the whole system is 
determined, as it is with us, by forces of the 
character of those we meet with in economical 
science. 

The inducements to laborious study are more 
productive in Germany, because they are given 
for the fruit or at the right season for fruit, while 
ours are like a prize given for the fullest blossom. 
Our Fellowships stimulate the University student, 
they reward student work, and this no doubt 
they call out in abundance and of high excellence. 

One advantage of Germany lies in the con- 
tinuance of study beyond the student course. This 
study is independent of the University; it is often 
carried on, away from it, under penury which to an 
Englishman would be intolerable, brightened by 
devotion to study and the hope of distinction. 
The reward most commonly looked for is a Pro- 
fessorship. This, as I have said, does not mean 
a position in which composure may be ruffled 
by conflict with boobies, or exhaustion caused by 
attempting to enliven the heavy by a transfusion 
of energy : the German Professor has not to do 
the work of a French one at a Lyceum. Such 



458 Examinations for College 

a position would be no boon to the savant. 
But the Professorship offers leisure for the further 
prosecution of study, to which the Professor Is also 
stimulated by the prospect of a better post : and 
if a Professor writes a book, the sale of enough 
copies to pay expenses Is practically ensured. 

Thus Germany applies a graduated stimulus 
through life, with a view of producing the most 
effective set of experts. We may note that absolute 
governments regard education In the first place as 
a means of manufacturing experts for government 
use, while popular ones view it rather as a means 
for the rearing of useful citizens ; and in all com- 
parisons of systems of education, this should be 
kept In mind. 

The credit of an English University rests on 
the character of the students it turns out. As Dr 
Pusey is reported to have said to a German Profes- 
sor, "We make not books but men." It is on the 
self-reliance and intelligence of the graduates, 
as shewn in life, that the good name of the Uni- 
versity depends. A German student, eager for the 
honour of his University, enumerates its chief 
Professors and their works ; an English under- 
graduate might hardly know the names of the 
Professors, or of any Lecturers but those at his 
own College, and as to these he would care little 



Fellowships and Schola7^ships. 459 

whether they had written anything or not. The 
University with him means the " men," while with 
the German it means the Professors, and these 
are regarded less as teachers, than as writers. 
Advancement is sought in Germany by writing 
on every possible occasion, and this is nearly as 
objectionable as our Examinations would be for 
grown men. It leads to writing for writing's sake, 
and the upholding of paradoxes in order to find 
something to say. Now and then, no doubt, a 
man of talent by being forced to fix his attention 
on a point, in order to produce a Dissertation for 
some special occasion, hits on something he might 
not otherwise have found, but this case is one in 
a thousand. 

The waste caused with us by giving excessive 
rewards too early would be obviated by giving 
the Fellowships later and ior performances. They 
would then fulfil the function of the German 
Professorship. They would stimulate work and 
give support during a career of study. 

I must now deal briefly with the subject of 
College Scholarships. These may be viewed in 
two lights, as follows : 

I. They are the prizes which give life to the 
whole system of instruction in a College. A 
Scholarship carries a status with it which is much 



460 Examinations for College 

coveted, hence this gives us a reward the value of 
which does not wholly depend on money worth, 
and the action of which is thereby the more 
wholesome. 

Scholarships which are intended to act in this 
way are usually awarded, among the Students of 
the College, according to an Examination in the 
work of the year ; they may be augmented or 
withdrawn according to the result of the Exami- 
nation in subsequent years. Thus used, Scholar- 
ships are purely edttcational appliances used to 
supply interest and concentrate attention on the 
College course. This was the old Cambridge plan. 
II. But these emoluments may be regarded 
as means of " securing good men for the College." 
In this case the Examination cannot be in con- 
nection with the College course, the subjects must 
be chosen with reference to the coming Honour 
Schools in which distinction is expected. Here 
we find two varieties, for the Examination may 
be open (i) to all undergraduates in the Univer- 
sity, which Is a plan commonly adopted at Oxford, 
or (2) to candidates from the Schools under 19 
or 20 years of age. This plan originated at 
Oxford, but Is now In use at both Universities. 

The action of Scholarships regarded in the 
way (I.) Is unexceptionable and often very useful. 



Fellowships a7id Scholarships. 461 

There are subjects — English Literature and Men- 
tal Philosophy for instance — which are ill suited 
to be the subjects of a general competitive Exami- 
nation, but which may be taught with great 
advantage by a College Lecturer to a class round 
his table. But if permanent good is to be got, 
pupils must not only listen and take part in the 
discussions that arise ; they must also condense 
their thoughts into a shape fit for expression, and 
must gather up the whole subject at once. This 
they will not do unless for some special occasion ; 
some object will be wanted, and an Examination, 
backed by the possibility of gaining a Scholar- 
ship, answers this purpose admirably. 

The use of Scholarships in the way (II.), as 
means of securing good men, may be looked at 
with a view to the good of the College or to 
helping the scholar. A College no doubt benefits 
by the presence in it of able men; the tone 
of the society, and the standard of attainment, is 
raised thereby. It may not indeed be well for a 
College to consist exclusively of what are called 
"high men." A clique of clever young men living 
by themselves get a false view of life. They 
fancy everything is to be done by cleverness, and 
are amazed, when they come to practical work, at 
the great power of stupidity; but without a fair 



462 Examinations for College 

sprinkling of ability worse evils arise, for men 
seeing nothing better acquiesce contentedly In 
their own mediocrity; one who Is a shade better 
than the rest passes for a prodigy, and as young 
people must have an aristocracy of their own, 
they will, if they cannot get one of ability, make 
up one out of social pretension or of preeminence 
in sports: so that though the Head or Tutor of 
a College may have got past setting his heart on 
having high Degrees to boast of, still, from the 
most legitimate motives, he will wish to get an 
accession of able students. 

The Examination employed In case (II.), both 
for varieties (i) and (2), would be a sort of antici- 
pation of the Examination for Honours, and the 
Examiner would regard the doings of candidates 
with a view to the Degrees they were likely to 
take. 

A different view of Scholarships may, however, 
be taken. They may be regarded as helps for 
"deserving young men." Supposing, as in case 
(I.), that the Scholarships are confined to under- 
graduates who have commenced residence, it 
would make little difference as to the persons 
chosen, on the whole, throughout the University 
whether each College disposed of Its Scholarships 
by its own educational Examination or by an 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 463 

Examination open to the whole University, always 
supposing, what is practically the case, that the 
supply of Scholarships at each College is adequate 
to rewarding those who may properly look for 
reward. 

As a matter of fact, under either system, 
matters so adjust themselves that no deserving 
person goes unrewarded. At Oxford the College 
Scholarships are commonly open to competition 
in the University. At Cambridge the system of 
giving the Scholarships in the College is the 
common one, but a student of another College 
can migrate, and obtain a Scholarship, and when 
a College is known to have few promising men in 
a particular year, this commonly happens. 

When the plan (2) is adopted, the Exami- 
nations can have no reference to the instruction 
given in a particular College, but testing Exami- 
nations must then be employed. Preparing for 
these Examinations causes distraction from the 
educational course. There is besides a waste of 
money in moving from College to College, and 
also a loss in the "break of o-aucre" in chaneine 
one set of instructors for another; the interest, 
moreover, of a College Tutor in his men is weak- 
ened by the idea that by teaching them well he 
is only giving them wings to fly away. 



464 Examinations for College 

I now come to a matter which many of us 
regard as the source of much evil, the '' Open 
Scholarships," given by competitive Examination 
before admission to the College. 

Twenty years ago there were a few only so 
given. These were at Oxford; to obtain one of 
them conferred great credit, and the plan at- 
tracted very able men to the particular Colleges. 
The system had been considered in some Colleges 
at Cambridge, but the objections to it were 
thought to outweigh the advantages, and it was 
not adopted until after the change of Statutes in 
i860, when circumstances made it necessary. The 
Oxford Statutes had been altered a few years 
before. The Oxford Colleges, seeing the high 
repute attained by BalHol and other Societies 
which had long given Open Scholarships, threw 
open their Scholarships to competition before 
entrance. This gave a great stimulus to the 
schools. The clever boys were drawn to Oxford 
in large numbers, and Cambridge was forced to 
follow in the track. Soon the competition of 
College with College raised the prices from ^50 
to £']0 and eventually to ^120. Schoolmasters 
found that a clever boy was a valuable article, 
which by proper management might be made to 
fetch a considerable sum. The schoolmaster not 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 465 

only wished to do well for his scholar, but to get 
due credit for his school in the newspapers. 
"I cannot afford," wrote a schoolmaster to me, 
about 1858, when we were suffering at Cambridge 
from the drain of ability to Oxford, ^'to send boys 
to Cambridge, though I should like to do so. 
They may indeed get Scholarships at the end 
of the year, but no one knows what schools they 
come from ; while my boys who go up to Oxford 
and get Open Scholarships spread my credit all 
over the country." When the advantage of the 
parent and of the schoolmaster pulled in the same 
direction the force was irresistible. Soon the 
public came to measure the efficiency of a School 
by the number of these prizes it carried off. This 
has been most mischievous, as many schoolmasters 
feel. It leads to the able being overtaught and 
the duller neglected. 

Mr J. M. Wilson, of Rugby, writes as follows 
to the journal of Education in Nov. 1876: 

*' Twenty years ago, more or less, the Colleges generally 
threw open their Scholarships to be competed for by boys at 
school. It seemed as if much was to be said for the change ; 
it seemed to open the endowments of the Universities to boys 
of talent of all ranks ; it seemed even to benefit the Colleges ; 
and while only a few Colleges were then open, they were the 
gainers ; but when all offer scholarships it becomes a contest 
among them. They bid, and try to outbid one another, for 



466 Examinations for College 

clever boys. It alters the distribution of the clever boys among 
the Colleges to some extent, and that is all. 

But the effect on schools is much greater and more serious. 
For the winning of these Scholarships has become the great 
object of many if not most schools. Boys go up and try at 
one College after another, under the advice of judicious men, 
who know the probable standard at each College. Scholarship 
classes are formed at school, examination papers are studied, 
regular education is laid aside for special preparation, the 
boy is: cleverly steered, and the cleverest boy and cleverest 
jockey jointly win the prize, and divide the applause; the 
honour is duly paraded at the speech-day by the smiling head- 
master to smiling boys, applause follows which lasts for 
several moments, and care is taken to have the success an- 
nounced in all the papers. 

I do not hesitate to say, after a good many years' expe- 
rience, that the effect of these Scholarships on schools is almost 
unredeemedly bad. They are not necessary as a stimulus ; 
they are totally inadequate and misleading as a means of com- 
paring school with school ; and they do a good deal in some 
cases to degrade the work of masters and boys alike. 

There would be nothing but gain to the great schools, and 
to the cause of higher education in England, if all the Col- 
leges at Oxford ' and Cambridge announced that in future 
Scholarships would only be awarded to men in actual resi- 
dence ; and the Colleges themselves would be no losers on the 
whole. But if it is thought by the majority of those who have 
the best means of judging that any considerable number of 
boys who now go to the Universities as scholars would not go 
at all but for the diminution of expense and the prospect of 
ultimate success that winning a scholarship affords, it would 
not be impossible to make the Certificate Examination serve 
the purpose of a Common School Examination for both Uni- 
versities." 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 467 

When the system was first introduced some 
Colleges endeavoured to frame their Examinations 
for Open Scholarships educationally, and to take 
account of Classics, Mathematics, and English all 
together. But very soon the schoolmasters found 
that their ablest boys were needed for the special 
Scholarships, while second-rate boys could be pre- 
pared to carry off those which were given for 
■general proficiency; hence College after College 
has been driven to "specialize" the Scholarships, 
which are now almost always given for excellence 
in one department. This is most injurious. 
Moreover a very mischievous "special prepara- 
tion" may be given in certain subjects. Mathe- 
matics especially. For, the range being limited, 
much may turn on adroitness in solving certain 
classes of problems, and this kind of cleverness 
may be stimulated to the injury of the student. 
Examination papers are carefully studied by tutors 
and pupils, and some competitors read with tutors 
at the University to get " University style," a 
good thing enough in due time, but it should 
not be consciously aimed at by boys of seven- 
teen. Parents expect the Schoolmasters to watch 
for openings in the Colleges, and to dispose 
of their sons to the best advantage. But the 
greatest evil lies in^ the mercenary spirit which 



4^8 Examinations for College 

Is called out by the prominence too early given 
to making money. ^'I will not take less than 
^loo a year for that boy" writes a master; 
"but I have another, a good, useful lad, whom 
you can have for j^7Q." One boy, too, feels 
aggrieved if a schoolfellow have fetched more 
than he has. And when a youth has obtained 
a Scholarship I have heard of his master 
writing for leave for him to go in for another 
elsewhere, which might be worth ^lo more. By 
two victories the master would get double credit. 
Boys who are ''run" for Scholarships at an early 
age are sometimes not allowed to take them if 
they win, in order that they may achieve a larger 
Scholarship and more dclat for their school in the 
following year. In such a state of things, when 
boys are ruaa for ""plates" like race-horses, can we 
wonder at complaints that young men are actuated 
not by a romantic love for learning, not by regard 
to their teachers or their College, but entirely 
by sordid considerations, and that, in the words of 
a Cambridge tutor, they think that their relations 
with the rest of the world are shaped by "rights 
and not by duties." 

A parent not needing pecuniary help would 
do better to pick out a College, and take his 
chance of his son getting a Scholarship there 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 4.69 

than to send him round trying at one College 
after another, and thus breaking up his school- 
time. The holiday at the University with old 
schoolfellows may be pleasant, but it is costly and 
distracting. 

It was an old objection to the plan, that early 
successes, over-much valued, would make youths 
conceited, and that disappointment would follow. 
A return of the careers of the winners of Open 
Scholarships would furnish instances of this, es- 
pecially in the case of the lower prizes. Many 
young men will work hard under pressure, striving 
for what they are eager to get, but having no 
interest in learning, and some of these will 
indemnify themselves afterwards by basking in 
their glory and taking their fill of pleasure. 

One difficulty of the question arises from the 
fact that there are a few young men who, with- 
out such help, would not come to the University, 
and who quite justify the outlay on their behalf. 
There are, on the other band, many who are 
lured to the University by such means, who yield 
society no return for having given them a high 
education, and who, after spending three years 
and getting a second-rate degree, which will bring 
no emolument, are worse off than if they had 
gone into business at first, and who, owing to 



470 Examinations for College 

the spirit in which they have worked, have no 
compensation in the way of enlarged capacities 
for usefulness or for intellectual pleasure. 

Another practical difficulty in dealing with 
these Scholarships is this. No one College can 
act for itself. Hardly a person likely to get a 
good degree in Honours now comes to the Uni- 
versity without a Scholarship, so that for a College 
to say that it will give no Scholarships, or 
only give them under less attractive conditions 
than other Colleges, is equivalent to giving up 
having candidates for Honours. Here then is a 
case for legislative interference, because Colleges 
owing to their isolation cannot abandon what all, 
I believe, at Cambridge hold to be mischievous. 
Common action is necessary for all the Colleges 
at Oxford and Cambridge^ because if one or two 
retained the system these would secure the ablest 
men. By offering a Scholarship of ^200 a year, 
a College might make almost sure of obtaining 
a Scholar who would gain high distinction : thus 
the credit which a College is supposed to derive 
from the high degrees of its students may be 
greatly due to its purchasing power. I am not 
without hope that the expected University legis- 
lation may help in this matter. 

I agree with Mr Wilson, that Scholarships 



Fellowships and Scholarships. 471 

might properly be offered to those who had done 
well in the Local Examinations, or in those of 
the Joint University Board, and this I think 
would meet the needs of the case. If we cannot 
free ourselves from this pernicious system alto- 
gether, in the way proposed, the evils might be 
reduced by so diminishing the number of Scholar- 
ships as to confine them to able men. Colleges 
sometimes give away several Exhibitions of ^30 
or £\o to youths, some of whom profit little by 
being drawn to the University, and thus a great 
waste of money is incurred. Scholarships should 
be limited to certain values, say ^80 and ^50, to 
prevent the bidding of College against College. 
The Examinations should also take place at 
fixed periods ; the boys should be under nineteen 
years of age; and these Open Scholarships should 
only be tenable until an opportunity offered for 
obtaining a Foundation Scholarships. 

1 The system will be hard to overthrow, because it scatters bounties. 
Help, as I have said, given to a lad of marked ability and small means, is 
not eleemosynary, because Society gets its quid pro quo. But if the youth be 
only of fair industry and intelligence, it is doubtful whether his usefulness 
to Society is increased enough by his having a higher education to make it 
worth while to take him out of his own walk of life. In this case there is 
hardly more reason why we should provide such persons gratuitously with 
higher education than with better clothes or maintenance. If we give help 
professedly as charity, we ought to enquire into the means of the recipients. 
This is not an easy or pleasant task. The City Companies effect this in 
in some degree, and their Exhibitions! as far as my observation has gone, 



4 72 Examinations for College Fellowships, &c. 



have been bestowed with excellent judgment, and have given help just 
where it was well justified. 

Sizarships effect a similar pui-pose. Persons of much social pretension 
will not send their sons to College as Sizars, and this preserves, them for the 
class they are intended for. They are peculiar to Cambridge, and are 
given away like Scholarships. (See p. 459, head I.) 

Some persons cannot venture on a University course unless they first 
secure assistance. These might come to the University as Unattached 
Students. They might easily arrange with a College to attend its course of 
lectures, and to compete with the Students of that College for a Scholar- 
ship at the end of the first Academical year. If they should fail, they 
would then have incurred no expense beyond the difference between their 
maintenance in the University town and at their own homes. 

I fear that boys at school are getting the idea, that if they are unlikely 
to get an open Scholarship there is "mo good" in their working. This 
comes of making too much of bribes as compared with duty and authority. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ON MARKING AND CLASSING. 

Persons not practically acquainted with Exami- 
nations may require to know something of the 
machinery by which the Examiner gives effect 
to his judgment. I propose therefore to give 
some account of the mechanism employed, avoid- 
ing all technical details, and confining myself to 
what is required for a good comprehension of 
the general action of Examinations. 

Two modes of proceeding come under our 
notice ; one is called deciding " by marks," and 
the other ''judging by impression." These pro- 
cesses are not distinct in their nature, for marks 
are, in fact, only the record of particular impres- 
sions ; but besides these particular impressions 
produced by each answer, the Examiner some- 
times receives a general impression from the 
ensemble of a candidate's work which is too in- 
definite to be estimated numerically, and weighed 
against a piece of translation, or a proposition 
in mathematics, but which may still help us to 



474 On Markmg and Classing. 

judge of his qualifications. These processes will 
be best understood by a glimpse at the mechan- 
ism when it is at work. 

It makes a difference whether the Examiner, 
as commonly happens, is acting in concert with 
others and has only a portion of a branch of the 
Examination entrusted to him, so that his results 
have to be weighed along with those of other 
Examiners, or whether, like an elector to a 
Scholarship or Fellowship, he have only to make 
up his own mind, state his opinions, and give 
his vote. In the first case, it is hardly possible 
to arrive at a result except by marks, if anything 
like an order of merit be required ; but if it were 
only necessary to place candidates in three or 
four classes, this might be done by voting, in 
the case of each candidate, whether he should be 
in the first class or lower, and so on for each 
class : some remarks on this mode of proceeding 
will be made presently. If marks be used, each 
subject must have a definite value assigned to 
it. I have discussed the principles on which 
these values should be determined, pp. 380 — 385. 
It is moreover necessary that Examiners should 
have some common understanding as to the 
degree of perfection corresponding to certain 
proportions of marks ; for, supposing the Mathe- 



On Markmg and Classing. 475 

matical Examiner to be rigorous, and the Italian 
Examiner to be easily pleased, the mathematician 
will suffer In comparison with the Italian scholar. 
This difficulty, which is analogous to what is 
called the "personal equation" of two astrono- 
mical observers, is a considerable one, and is 
greater the more various the subjects are. Even 
the same Examiner judges differently, according 
as he is fresh or wearied. 

If an Examiner have merely to give his vote 
and state his opinion he need use no marks, and 
if he does, they are to him merely notes of passing 
impressions and are equivalent to words, such as 
" excellent," *'fair," " Indifferent," &c. There is an 
intermediate case, in which an Examiner has the 
absolute control of one subject, but the number 
of marks allotted to his subject is fixed. In this 
case the Examiner may judge of the merits of 
the papers handed to him In any way he likes, 
provided that he arrives at numerical results in 
proper relation to the maximum assigned for 
perfection. He may use marks if he pleases 
to register his impressions, and he may give 
additional marks where an answer strikes his 
fancy, or for general style, or take off marks 
beyond those assigned to the particular questions 
for a blunder which reveals an abyss of mis- 



47^ On Marking a7td Classing. 

apprehension. But he must translate his results 
into the scale which has been agreed on. 

When an Examination is conducted by marks, 
the order of merit is determined by the addition 
of these marks, however they are obtained. Can- 
didates often have an idea that it will " go against 
them" to have got their marks in one way or 
another, as though some impression were derived 
from their performance viewed as a whole. Such 
an impression no doubt might be drawn from see- 
ing how the marks are obtained. When we cast 
our eyes down the list of the marks of candidates 
in the Indian Civil Service Examination, we in- 
voluntarily do form some such judgment, but, as 
a fact, when notice has been given of the marks 
a.ssigned to each subject, no consideration is paid 
to anything but the aggregate of marks, and the 
places are determined simply by addition. It is 
only when the list has to be divided into classes 
that there Is room for discussion ; then the ques- 
tion, "Where are we to drav*^ the line?" often 
eives room to debate, and the character of the 
work of the candidates on the debateable ground 
may then be canvassed in some degree. 

In the case of an election for a Fellowship or 
for some single prize, the Examiners, as I have said, 
often vote according to the impression each gets 



On Marking and Classing. 477 

frotn his own paper, or from the statements of the 
other electors. This mode of proceeding has the 
advantage that it gives full scope to impression, 
so that if the Examiners are keen-sighted and 
have an eye for ability, they will probably judge 
well for their purpose: but, on the other^hand, an 
Examiner who is not used to discriminate, or who 
has some crotchet, may do much harm; for it is 
the weak point of this system that a vote doubt- 
fully given may counteract one given in the strong- 
est possible conviction. Two Examiners, for 
instance, may feel no doubt that A is much better 
than B, and three others may be uncertain, but 
finally decide to vote for B, who is thereby elected ; 
whereas, if the matter had been decided by the 
addition of the marks, furnished by all the Exa- 
miners, A might have been the successful candi- 
date. Under this system, also, an Examiner of 
strong will and positive manner will sometimes 
obtain a preponderance which Is not justified by 
his soundness of judgment. 

I must now return to speak of the way in which 
marks are given. The system of numerical mark- 
ing, as has been said above, came into use In 
Mathematical Examinations, where It was found to 
work well. There Is no subject In which marks can 
be allotted with such precision as in Mathematics. 



47^ On Marking and Classing. 

The various elements of Examination value, 
that is to say, the relative difficulty and Importance 
of questions, the amount of previous reading 
needed to answer them, and, what we shall pre- 
sently have to touch upon, the time requisite to 
write out the answers, can be all more readily 
estimated and allowed for in subjects which can 
be treated mathematically than in most others. 

In Mathematics, something- has usually to be 
proved; if the proof holds, full marks are commonly 
given, and if it fails, few or none are allowed. 
Hence the discretion of the Examiner only comes 
into play in dealing with partial solutions, or in 
the explanation of principles and description of 
experiments, instruments, &"c. : the consequence 
is that two Mathematical Examiners, indepen- 
dently marking a set of papers, will usually 
agree within a few marks. But with Languages, 
especially as regards Composition, and also with 
Historical and Speculative subjects, the case is 
different. The class of questions which begin 
with, " Give a short account of," " Discuss the 
question," or *' Examine the principle," cannot be 
marked on generally accepted rules : one Exa- 
miner may have one view and one another as to 
the proper starting-point for the answer and the 
range it ought to cover. In the Universities 



071 Marking and Classing. 479 

some kind of understanding prevails on this point, 
and candidates are practised in answering in the 
expected form ; but when candidates from various 
quarters are set down to answer a paper involving 
such questions, various elements of uncertainty pre- 
sent themselves, and these operate to a greater 
extent if the time allowed for doing the paper be 
short. For instance, some candidates will spend 
too great a proportion of their time over a few 
questions, and others will attempt too many, and 
send up scanty answers^. Sometimes Examiners 
can use their discretion and give extra marks for 

^ Here we see one source of the advantage gained by those candidates 
who have been directly trained for displaying their knowledge in an Exami- 
nation. A pupil who has had such assistance understands what the 
Examiner means him to do, and also how he may best employ his time 
upon a paper of questions. Hence preparing for Examinations differs from 
teaching, properly so called, in this, that besides putting knowledge into the 
pupil and. giving him the use of his brains, he must be made acquainted with 
the conventions of Examinations and taught to put out his knowledge to the 
best advantage. The proper business of a school is teaching, but when 
pupils are looking to competition outside the school, they must be "pre- 
pared" for such contests. If this is done in the school, it necessitates the 
withdrawal of pupils from some of the ordinary work, and the setting up 
of a "special preparation" department ; if it be not done, pupils will go to an 
establishment which makes such preparation its particular business. The 
drilling for Examinations is not without its use in its proper time — it gives 
precision and self-knowledge ; but the matter should be well assimilated 
before it has to be displayed, otherwise we get what is called " cram." If 
the Examination be confined to the school, all the pupils are similarly 
circumstanced, and the regular school-work need not be interrupted. The 
subjects will, of course, be reviewed ; but this falls in with legitimate 
teaching. In examining a school, a knowledge of school- methods is of 
course requisite, as wtll as good judgment and an understanding of boys. 



480 On Maj^king and Classing. 

a question which is answered more thoroughly 
than may be quite necessary, but frequently the 
conditions of the Examination or the understandr 
ing that exists among the candidates may render 
it improper to do so. Moreover, if a discursive 
mode of dealing with a paper were encouraged, 
the difficulty of examining would be increased. 

The Examiner is usually left free to distri- 
bute the marks allowed for his paper among his 
questions, and he may find It desirable to alter 
this distribution in the course of examining. If, 
for instance, he finds that some question is com- 
monly answered, nearly in the same terms, he 
will conclude that he has lio'hted on somethinof 
contained in a manual in common use, and this 
may affect his view of the value of his ques- 
tion. When the object is only to pick out a few 
candidates from a mass, the Examiner should be. 
left, as I have said before, as free as possible to 
exercise his judgment, unfettered by the notion of 
being under a covenant with the candidate, to give 
marks for all that is correct ; but where such an 
understanding exists, or where a large number of 
Examiners are employed, some of whom may be 
inexperienced, it is desirable that definite marks 
should be allotted to each question, and that a 
list of the marks given should be produced; this 



On Marking and Classing. 481 

affords a guarantee that every answer has been 
properly considered, and also a means of investi- 
gating complaints of the loss of papers, or the 
like. 

I have said that the result of the marks given 
and that of the impression received do not always 
correspond ; on this point there is something to 
observe. Impression is made up of many ele- 
ments, some of which belong to the Examiner's 
particular taste, and others to the pupil's style of 
work. But this discrepancy may arise from a more 
complete view being taken of the entire work, 
when we judge by impression, than when we judge 
by the aggregate of the marks allowed for each 
scrap or clause of a question which is rightly 
answered. For instance, a candidate who sends 
up a number of answers and gets credit for parts 
of each but does no one question thoroughly well, 
may get an aggregate of marks which will sur- 
prise the Examiner, who may lay down his papers 
with but a poor opinion of him. It may be said 
that the Examiner in this case has not marked 
the answers with proper judgment, but such a 
discrepancy is sometimes hard to avoid. The 
difficulty arises usually from the multiplicity of the 
objects which the Examination is meant to effect. 
The Examiner is expected to pronounce both on 

L. 31 



482 On Marking a7id Classing. 

the ability and knowledge of the candidate, while 
he must set his questions with a view to some 
educational programme; possibly too the Exami- 
nation may be a mere qualifying Examination for 
some of the candidates, and so he may have to fix 
a standard for "passing" and act as considerately 
in some cases as if he were administering criminal 
law. He must therefore look with different eyes 
on the performances of the best and the worst; 
he adapts his vision to detect shades of difference 
between the abler; but if he looked half as 
closely into the work of the worst that he does 
into that of the best candidates, the slaughter 
would be disastrous. 

Another cause of the difference between the 
impression given and the score obtained is that 
negative marks are not employed. The Exami- 
ner, according to usage, can at most withhold all 
marks from the question in which a bad blunder 
occurs, although the ill impression conveyed to him 
may be inadequately represented by this penalty. 
These understood modes of proceeding have 
not however been adopted without good grounds. 
An Examiner has in all cases a notion of the 
answer he wishes to receive, to this he gives full 
marks, and there is a difficulty in giving more 
marks for a very thorough answer, because possibly 



On Marking and Classmg. 483 

other men might have answered more at length 
if they had understood that the Examiner wished 
them to do so. Again, an Examiner may occasion- 
ally be struck by a remark, which is rather beside 
the question, but if he gave marks for it, candi- 
dates would bring in brilliant observations taken 
out of their tutor's "Note-book of Original 
Thoughts." There is also this objection to the 
employment of negative marks. A nervous stu- 
dent, fearing to damage himself by a bad blunder, 
may be prevented from attempting questions in 
which he might shew himself to advantage, and 
this terror might have a depressing effect: an 
Examiner wishes to see a man at his best, and 
he does best when he works fearlessly. Still 
bad spelling, bad grammar, or guesses which shew 
utter ignorance, ought to involve some positive 
loss. 

The general character of the questions selected 
by the candidate influences impression, but may 
have little eflect on the marking. Some candidates 
will steadily decline all questions which touch on 
points of difficulty, such points, for example, as 
are scantily explained in the common text-books, 
or which require nicety of conception and clear- 
ness of head. Lastly, the general style of ex- 
pression and of arrangement conveys important 

31—2 



484 On Marking and Classing. 

Information to a practised Examiner as to the 
capabilities of a candidate. Of course in some 
cases, as in translation, style is definitely con- 
sidered in the marking; but in other subjects, it 
can scarcely be taken account of question by 
question, though it makes itself felt in the whole. 

The practical conclusion would therefore be, 
that when the Examiner has merely to decide 
on the fittest candidate for the purpose in view, 
he may act freely on impression, translating 
this impression into marks, if he thinks fit, in 
order to assist his memory or to enable him to 
compare his results with those of other Examiners ; 
but when he is examining what has been pre- 
pared by the pupil, on a certain understanding, it 
is more important to keep up the pupil's con- 
fidence in the absolute good faith maintained in 
the Examination than to arrive at a slightly 
more accurate result. 

The following course Is applicable In many 
Examinations in which two or three objects are 
aimed at at once; as, for instance, to guide the 
student's reading and at the same time to give 
consideration to extent of knowledge and to fur- 
nish a criterion of ability. It is, to distribute three 
quarters of the marks assigned to the paper 
among the questions, and to reserve the other 



On Marking and Classing. 485 

quarter to be assigned by impression. It would 
be well, only it takes time, and time is, in heavy 
Examinations, very costly, for the Examiner first 
to mark all the papers sent up, and then read them 
over a second time and assign the marks due to 
impression. By this means he will know how to 
pitch his expectations before he begins to give 
the marks for impression. I have observed that 
in assigning marks to a particular question, it is 
necessary to consider the time required for answer- 
ing it ; this is of course on the supposition that 
a limited time is allowed for answerinof the whole 
paper. 

Something m.ust be said on this subject of 
time. If we only want to find out the cleverest man 
or the man of most matured knowledge, we may 
get rid of this disturbing element by letting 
candidates work at the paper as long as they 
like. But in educational Examinations the time 
that can be allowed is practically limited by 
external arrangements, as so many papers must 
be set within so many days. 

The Examiner is paid in proportion to the 
work and the time, and during many Examina- 
tions pupils are being maintained away from 
their homes, so that time must be economised. 
Hence the time allowed for an Examination is , 



486 On Marking and Classing. 

often scanty compared with the number of sub- 
jects comprised. This leads to setting short papers 
and to affording- the minimum of time for doing 
them. Of course a short Examination is less 
effective than a long one : it gives more room for 
luck. When an important subject is disposed of 
in a single paper, the questions may be suitable 
or unsuitable for a particular person, or a candi- 
date may be a little unwell. These sources of 
error are eliminated in a long Examination. 

Again, when scanty time is allowed, practice 
in writing out becomes so important, that a 
schoolboy is sometimes taken off his regular work 
for some weeks before an Examination in order 
to get practice and dexterity in *' serving up" his 
knowledge neatly and rapidly ; thus by allowing too 
short a time for a paper we put those who are not 
specially trained at a disadvantage. On the other 
hand, it is said that rapidity and readiness are 
qualities of great service in life, and that they 
should be rewarded as much as any others. But 
this argument implies a comparing of things not 
of the same kind. It may be well to judge of 
readiness, if the candidates know they are to 
compete in a display of this quality and a proper 
means of shewing it be devised ; but if we hurry 
a student we can not tell whether he can think or 



On Marking and Classing. 487 

not, and we cannot say what comes from quick 
writing and what from superior knowledge. 

A pupil who knows his work thoroughly will 
be able to answer questions much more readily 
than one who has to hammer out his replies. This 
in a strictly educational Examination justly brings 
him a reward, but if we were looking for the ablest 
man we should think as well of one who got the 
same questions answered in four hours by using 
his brains that another did in three hours by 
greater help from his memory. 

The received general rule, when we want 
to judge of ability, knowledge and diligence all 
at once — and I have no better to offer — is that the 
paper should not be longer than a thoroughly well- 
prepared and able student can answer in the time. 

If the paper be too long in proportion to the 
time allowed, the effect is the same as if separate 
candidates had separate papers, for each will make 
his own choice of questions. An element of un- 
certainty is hereby introduced. The man who 
knows where his own strength lies, and who can 
see at a glance what he can do and what he can- 
not, and can invest his time with the greatest 
judgment, derives an advantage. This, it may be 
said, he fully deserves, but there is a difficulty 
in setting off this quality against superior ingenuity 



488 On Marking mid Classing. 

or power of rendering an author ; sometimes mere 
quickness of writing may produce a difference. 
I have known long and exhaustive papers produce 
results which were at variance with the rest of the 
Examination, and which were not confirmed by 
subsequent trials. Moreover, a paper that is too 
long enables a candidate to avoid the very ques- 
tions that we most depend upon for judging of the 
correctness of his apprehension of the subject. 

On the other hand, a paper that is too short 
may answer educational purposes well enough, but 
it may fail to discriminate between two or three 
men, each of whom will answer all the questions. 

A Mathematical Problem paper offers a 
special case. No one is expected to solve all the 
problems, a certain choice is intentionally offered. 
An element of disturbance is hereby introduced ; 
when there are two or three such papers, the 
disturbances may neutralize each other ; but a 
single problem paper in a Mathematical Exami- 
nation may cause an erroneous result. The harder 
the problems are, the more mischief the paper 
may do ; for, if no one can solve more than two or 
three, a single problem will be very important, 
and a candidate may hit on a solution by some 
chance thought. If the problem paper be very 
long, it denotes a vast expenditure of thought in 



On Marking and Classing. 489 

the making on the part of a man who might 
have been doing something better, and it adds 
to the uncertainty in a still greater degree. For 
a candidate can hardly spare time to consider 
each problem, and he therefore decides hastily as 
to which he should attack, while much depends 
on his judgment in so doing : twelve problems 
for three hours is the common rule. Questions 
that are too hard may cause a ruinous loss of 
time ; the Examiner should therefore know the 
general calibre of the candidates. 

Sometimes an Examiner must test a very 
wide range of knowledge by a single paper; the 
result in this case can only be regarded as a 
rough approximation, but the plan adopted in 
some Government Examinations under these cir- 
cumstances is a good one, viz. to subjoin a few 
questions in the higher parts of the subject and 
allow any of them to be substituted for any of 
the others. Another useful plan in such cases, 
especially with subjects like English Literature or 
Classical Antiquities, is to set a number of ques- 
tions, perhaps a dozen, and only to allow the 
candidate to do four or five of them. This leads 
him to possess himself of certain points thoroughly, 
and enables him to shew whether he has got 
beyond the outside of the subject. 



490 On Marking and Classing. 

We now suppose that the score of each candi- 
date in each paper is settled, and we arrive at the 
question, How are these particular scores to be 
combined? If we simply add them together, ex- 
perience shews that many-sided mediocrity will 
get more than its deserts. It is with learning as 
with the boring a shaft for a mine, the labour 
of advancing, and, possibly, also the value of the 
returns, vary with the square of the depth or 
even in a higher ratio. Hence the reward should 
vary in the same proportion. Unless the total of 
the marks assigned to a paper be' made inconveni- 
ently large, it will be difficult to mark the higher 
questions adequately, in relation to the lower ones, 
without so reducing the marks of the latter, as 
to leave insufficient scope for marking differ- 
ences in the answers. The result is that excel- 
lence is insufficiently rewarded, and this leads 
candidates to read a single subject too diffusely, 
and, when several subjects may be taken in at 
once, to enter upon too many. I have hinted at 
a plan (p. 237) of squaring the marks, which in 
certain cases would fairly express the relative 
degrees of excellence ; for a person who gets half 
marks is not more than a quarter as good as one 
who gets full marks, but this plan would be trouble- 
some if the marks were numerically high. The 



On Marking and Classing. 491 

simple plan adopted in the Indian Civil Service 
Examinations, though not continuous in its opera- 
tion, is far easier to apply. It consists in de- 
ducting a fixed number from each score in the 
particular subjects, and adding the remainders 
thus obtained in each subject, in order to arrive 
at the ultimate total score of the competitor. The 
number deducted may be the same for all subjects, 
or a proportion of the whole number allotted 
to each subject. This system prevents an undue 
reward being given to smatterings, but it does not 
equally well answer the purpose of largely reward- 
ing high excellence. 

The plan would be more complete if the ex- 
cess of each score above half marks, if such there 
were, were added to it, and then one quarter of 
the whole number of marks assigned to the paper 
were deducted, so that if the paper gave 500 
marks, we should have the following results : 
A obtains full marks 500 and is credited with 

500 + 250-125 = 625, 
B obtains 400 and is credited with 

400+150-125 = 425, 
C obtains 300 and is credited with 

300 + 50-125 = 225, 
D obtains 200 and is credited with 2 00 -125 = 7 5, 
E obtains 125 and Is credited with 125-125 = 0. 



492 On Marking and Classmg. 

This plan it will be seen would enable a com- 
petitor to get more marks than the total put down 
for the subject, but as all the subjects would be 
affected in the same way their relative value would 
be unaltered. 

The subjects for the Mathematical Tripos at 
Cambridge (see p. 185) are now distributed into 
groups, and a certain number of marks are assigned 
to each group ; this was done with the view of 
inducing students to read a few branches of 
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy with com- 
pleteness, instead of roving over a large surface 
and selecting the portions which they could most 
easily handle. No change, however, in the mode 
of study was effected by this step, because the 
old course continued to be the most profitable ; 
people found a little of many things more re- 
munerative than much of one thing, but if the 
marks allotted to each group were dealt with 
by some mode, similar to the above, candidates 
and their tutors would find the plan of reading, 
which it is desired to encourage, to be also the 
most remunerative in point of marks, and it would 
be generally adopted. 

It may seem degrading to have so often to 
appeal to apparently mercenary considerations, but 
as I have before said, we want such considerations 



On Marking and Classing. 493 

with youths, to supply the place of the motives for 
professional exertion in men ; a boy who will do 
nothing at school, because he does not ''see the 
good of it," will often work hard enough when 
he sees that exertion and application will bring 
him what he wants to obtain, and this demand for 
definite returns is now greater than ever ; the 
young people at any period naturally reproduce 
the views prevalent at the time among their 
parents. Grown men do not require such artificial 
stimulants, because duties which are imperative 
supply their place with the many, while the 
pursuit of knowledge, or of some object which 
furnishes the interest and occupation of life, does 
the like for a few. This brings me to the most 
important part of this chapter, the question of the 
conflicting advantages of an alphabetical arrange- 
ment and of one in order of merit. 

We are here regarding Examinations primarily 
as modes of discovering the relative qualifications 
of certain persons for some purpose, which the 
Examiner has in view, or on which the public 
wants to have means of judging. The more there- 
fore that Examinations can honestly tell us, as 
to such relative qualifications, the better they 
effect their end. If we have little confidence in 
the readings of our instruments, we must not 



494 ^^ Marking a?id Classing. 

pretend to register very nice observations, but 
we may, unless there are other reasons to the 
contrary, publish such an estimate as we believe 
to be trustworthy as far as it goes. If our ob- 
servation is only true to minutes we must not 
pretend to give it in seconds ; but there is no 
reason why we should confine ourselves to hours. 

When there are only a few emoluments or 
places to be given away, we are forced to make 
a selection. Now an Examination held specially 
for making such a selection generally does some 
educational harm. If, then, by arranging the com- 
petitors in educational Examinations like those for 
Honours in the Universities, in as close an order 
of merit as we can, we are able to do without 
special Examinations; we are so far doing good 
service to education by adopting this mode of 
arrangement, unless we have to do with persons 
so sensitive, or with a mode of preparation so 
prone to produce artificial learning, that more 
would be lost in this way than by holding special 
Examinations. 

At Oxford the classes are arranged alpha- 
betically, and, looking to the character of the 
studies in their most important school, I do not 
think that any other arrangement could be, 
adopted ; but in consequence of this mode of 



On Markhig and Classing. 495 

classification It Is necessary to hold Examinations 
for Fellowships after Degree, a plan which Is 
open to objections a priori, (see p. 20) and of 
the operation of which at Oxford Mr Sayce, in 
the pamphlet above quoted, speaks unfavourably. 

I hold that It is desirable to use our edu- 
cational Examinations as means of disposing of 
our emoluments, and in order that these Exami- 
nations may be so used, their results should .tell 
us as much as the Examiner can confidently state 
about the candidates. 

When the subjects of Examination are not 
homogeneous, or when they comprise matters of 
taste or opinion, or when an extensive subject 
has to be dealt with in an insufficient time, then 
there must be much uncertainty ^s to the order 
of merit. The more free the Examination is 
from these causes of incertitude, the more closely 
may we place the names In such an order. This 
incertitude will vary for each subject in a given 
Examination, and it may also vary from special 
circumstances affecting the whole Examination; 
the more multifarious the subjects the greater it 
will be. It is measured by the percentage of the 
marks of candidates within which it is requisite 
to ''bracket" them as equal, considering each 
subject by Itself. To determine this percentage 



49^ On Ma7'king and Classing. 

practically, we should require to have the same 
sets of answers in various subjects, marked by- 
different Examiners: we should find that in cer- 
tain subjects the lists nearly coincided, but that 
in others they varied more or less, and we might 
fix our percentage accordingly. 

We might find, for instance, that if we "bracket- 
ed" in Mathematics all those who are within 
three per cent, of each other, the same list would 
result from the marks of each set of Examiners; 
but that in the case of Classical translation we 
should have to bracket those whose marks were 
within five or six per cent, to get the same list 
from both sets ; If we took Classical Composition 
the percentage required would be higher. This 
percentage I propose to call the index of inde- 
tenninateness for the subject In question. When 
the subjects are of various kinds, or when all the 
candidates do not do the same papers, but per- 
formances in one thing have to be set off against 
performances In another, this increases the index of 
indeterminateness for that Examination. For in- 
stance, the index In a single Mathematical subject 
may be taken at two per cent, which was the rate 
formerly fixed in the Mathematical Tripos. Thus 
persons scoring 5000 and 5099 would have been 
bracketed equal, but one who obtained 5100 



On Mai'king and Classing. 497 

would have escaped being bracketed. But since 
the ranofe of the Examinations has been extended 
so that many candidates take different selections 
of subjects, our index above spoken of has been 
increased, and candidates are now bracketed where 
the difference of marks is within three per cent. 

Mathematics and those branches of Physics 
which can be treated mathematically give the 
most definite results. Chemistry, with its allied 
sciences, would perhaps stand next, and then 
Roman Law. 

With regard to Classics, we find that Ex- 
aminers usually agree pretty well about transla- 
tion, but that prose composition affords room for 
some difference of opinion, and verse composition 
gives much more. When in a Classical Exami- 
nation we have set subjects, together with His- 
tory, Philosophy, and Philology, the Examina- 
tion ceases to be homogeneous. Some candidates 
may pay no attention to one of these branches, 
but may concentrate their strength on another, 
this increases the indeterminateness of the result ; 
and the, degree of confidence that can be placed 
in it must depend on the system of mechanism 
adopted for combining the marks (see pp. 484 
and 491). 

When several subjects are grouped together 



49 8 Oil Marking and Classing. 

which are dissimilar, and are not all taken up 
by each student, as in Natural Science, great 
uncertainty must result. A student may do very 
well in one branch, and yet so poorly in others 
as to come out very low in a general list. But 
if separate lists are drawn out for the separate 
sutP|ects, the credit of the Examination is lessened, 
because fewer names appear in each, and a scanty 
list carries small weight with the public : besides, 
the public is bewildered by a multiplicity of lists, 
and is found to pay little attention to Honours 
which appear in this form. The "index of in- 
determinateness" might be so high, that the 
"brackets" would be large enough to form separate 
classes, in which case we come to an alphabetical 
arrangement in classes of moderate size, and this 
may be the closest classification which the case 
admits of. 

It has been proposed to note by ''asterisks" 
those who are distinguished in particular branches, 
but a difficulty occurs ; we must here trust a single 
Examiner : there may be a want of uniformity of 
view as to what constitutes excellence. The 
more abstruse the subject, the more necessary it 
will be to have for Examiners persons who are 
rather savants than teachers. Such persons may 
not understand the mode in which a pupil's mind 



On Marking and Classing. 499 

acts, as an Examiner ought to do, in order to 
mark ability and distinguish first-rate work. The 
mode b^ which the results of a Natural Science 
School or Tripos can be best used for the award- 
ing of College Endowments, appears to me to be 
to allow the College authorities access to the 
actual marks obtained by the candidates : this is 
a possible expedient. The case of Moral Science 
Is not very different. The subjects comprised are 
less diverse, and are more commonly studied all 
together, but there Is much that Is speculative, 
and therefore there is much room for difference 
of opinion between Examiners. 

Thus far we have spoken of a relative measure 
of proficiency, but in some cases we want an 
absolute measure as well. This absolute standard 
is supplied In University Examinations by dividing 
the candidates into classes. 

Whether we adopt an alphabetical arrange- 
ment or in order of merit in each class, the 
extent of the class must be determined by the 
examining body according to their idea of what 
it indicates. In the Universities there is an old 
traditionary Idea of what is meant by the First, 
Second, and Third Classes respectively, and by 
Wranglers, Senior Optimes, and Junior Optimes. 
The difficulty of drawhig a line is proverbial, 

32—2 



500 On Marking and Classing. 

and frequently this separation into classes causes 
much discussion. We find every shade of pro- 
ficiency and ability, just as we find that plaints pass 
by gradual changes from the lichens to the most 
perfect flowers; but just as at certain stages nature 
is most prolific of genera and species, so we find 
that near certain standards candidates lie thick 
together, and thus a first, second, and third class 
often mark roughly certain types of mind. Never- 
theless the gradation from one of these groups to 
another is continuous, and sometimes there is no 
considerable break between candidates near the 
"place where the line, according to tradition, ought 
to be drawn. In this case less injustice is done 
by a system in order of merit than by an alpha- 
betical one, because the difference between being 
last in the first class and first in the second is not 
so offeat as that between a first class and a second 
class degree when all those in each class are sup- 
posed to be equal. The more numerous the 
classes, the greater will be the danger of a small 
difference in marks causing the difference of a 
class between two candidates. 

If the distinctions drawn are unwarranted, 
if, for instance, two or three marks make the 
difference of a place, an arrangement In order of 
merit Is not defensible ; but, even when it is 



On Marking and Classmg. 501 

warranted, objection is taken to its use, as leading 
to over-anxiety, and "reading for a place." 

Young people however need close gradations 
of success ; if the steps are far apart they stag- 
nate somewhere, they cannot love knowledge ''for 
its own sake" till they know what knowledge is. 
We do not trust entirely to duty or professional 
enthusiasm in the case of grown-up people, but 
if we want our employes to act with zeal and 
intelligence, we offer them opportunities for shew- 
ing intelligence and prospects of advancement. 
We must deal with young people in the same 
way. 

The spirit of contest goes all through life. It 
Is found in the professions and in politics, and 
lies at the bottom of all our recreations. English 
boys learn to love contest from our English 
games. Happily they learn from them too that 
contest may be quite free from jealousy and per- 
sonal rivalry, and they come to regard fair dealing 
as the air they breathe, that is, not as anything to 
be prized or praised, but as one of the ordinary 
conditions of existence. There are countries, 
and perhaps there are classes among ourselves, 
in which this ready spirit of give and take Is not 
found, and then objection Is felt, and reasonably 
felt, to any close rivalry among students. Many, 



502 On Marking and Classing. 

University Examinations — our Mathematical Tri- 
pos at Cambridge, as at present constituted, for 
example — fulfil a double purpose. They are edu- 
cational Examinations, and also Examinations in 
advanced knowledge. So far as they are educa- 
tional, classification in order of merit is quite ap- 
plicable, but so far as they represent learning, 
which they do as far as relates to the highest 
men, a less precise classification would be better. 
While receiving the higher knowledo-e men should 
be free from the disturbance produced by the 
idea of contest. If we divide the Examinations, 
as I propose, we get rid of this difficulty. Our 
highest candidates are now and then pressed a 
little harder than is good for them, though a great 
deal that we hear on this point is exaggeration. 

We now come to the objection that the close- 
ness of our distinction causes over-anxiety and 
over- work. If we reckon work by the number of 
hours of application, we should say that the read- 
ing men of the present generation work Infinitely 
less hard than those of the preceding one. Bishop 
Blomfield says, that he read twelve hours a day or 
more, while no one now reads more than eight or 
nine. It is not the highest men by any means 
who read the greatest number of hours, or who 
suffer most from over-work. We are In want of 



0)1 Marking and Classing. '503 

precise information as to the number of cases in 
which students suffer from over-work. I believe 
myself that though a few men are temporarily- 
wearied at the end of term, no serious evil occurs. 
My impression is that young persons are more 
careful of themselves, and that they understand 
managing themselves better than they did. In 
College also they are under experienced eyes, 
and the first symptom of over-fag is observed. 

It is, however, to be noted that brain-work 
depends on intensity as well as duration, and the 
work of our time demands great activity of mind. 
A great part of the labour in old time was 
mechanical. The references in Bishop Blomheld's 
time had to be made to the original works ; now, 
the passages wanted are given in notes ; proofs 
of Mathematical propositions were then dictated 
in lectures or copied from tutorial MS., while 
at present all that is wanted is found in the 
manuals. Mathematical processes are shorter, so 
that the student passes more rapidly from one 
conception to another: more thought is exercised 
in less time. Moreover, owing to the over-great 
extent of matter comprised in our University 
Schools, tutors are forced to go at a gallop to get 
through the subjects. Their teaching consists 
altogether In explaining difficulties: the student 



504 On Marking and Classing. 

goes over the plain ground by himself. The 
tutor administers to him concentrated nourish- 
ment, divested of all which gives bulk: this is 
a strain on the mental digestion, and is terribly 
fagging both to pupil and tutor. In each lesson 
there are new conceptions to be conveyed, and 
every device of exposition and illustration is re- 
quired. The remedy is two-fold ; first, to reduce 
the excessive range of the subjects; secondly, in a 
moderate degree to lengthen slightly, not indeed 
the formal University "terms," but the parts of 
them employed in instruction, by enforcing the 
beginning of residence in all the Colleges on a 
certain day, and making each term contain 60 
clear days. People would be less exhausted by 
a few days' more work than they are by the 
tearing hurry of the present plan^. 

^ Tlie Long Vacation at Cambridge is the time when the greatest 
amount of healthy work is done, the idlers are away; about 500 or 600 
genuine students, and 80 or 100 of those engaged in teaching and in main- 
taining discipline, occupy the place during July and August. The Medical 
Faculty too continues some of its lectures. The best work of the year is 
done in this season of quiet, and Cambridge is then truly "a seat of learn- 
ing and a place of education." It has sometimes been suggested to interpose 
a compulsory term in the middle of the Long Vacation ; that is to say, to 
oblige the idler men and the candidates for Ordinary Degrees to reside 
along with the studious ones. This would be very unwise. The Pass men 
would not benefit, for the term would be much what the end of the Easter 
Term now is, that is to say, it would be broken in upon by boat races and 
cricket matches, and worst of all by the constant intrusion of pleasure- 
seeking relatives and visitors : not only time but money would be spent in 
entertaining them. At present the backward Pass men often go to their 



On Marking and Classing. 505 

Another cause of the exhaustion which we 
sometimes hear of, comes from the pupil having 
been, in sporting phraseology, " run off his legs," 
before he was fully grown. What with Scholar- 
ships and various other special Examinations, 
the schools are forced to let the education of a 
youth, considered in its largest sense, give place 
to his prospects of distinction. Thus boys have 
one faculty of their minds forced, at an over early 
age, into undue activity. I should be glad to get 
rid of this specializing in schools, and see young 
men come to the University fairly educated all 
round. At present we have a few well-trained 
candidates for Scholarships, and many dunces. 

Evils may with particular temperaments fol- 
low from over-stimulation ; such temperaments 
are not only found among the ablest students, 
whose case is now before us, but, I believe, more 
commonly among the feebler men. Sometimes 
a Pass man reads himself, or rather worries him- 
self, into a state of incapacity. With such men 

old private tutors in the country for the summer (reading parties for such 
men are not to be recommended), and some of the better sort go and learn 
French or German on the Continent. Independent, continuous, study or 
writing is now difficult enough; it is prevented not only by teaching, people 
must lay their account for this, but by the distraction caused by the ad- 
ministrative business carried on by Syndicates, and by the debates and 
agitation attendant on legislation, and College and University politics; and 
if the Vacation were turned into a prolongation of the " May Term, " the 
intellectual life of the University would be well nigh extinguished. 



5o6 On Marking and Classing, 

the evil is constitutional, and would probably 
display itself whenever a sudden call of any kind 
was made upon them. I see no reason for 
adapting an Examination system to persons thus 
morbidly affected, indeed I believe this over- 
anxious temperament spreads when it is too 
much attended to. There is also a class of 
young men who have intellectual tastes and some- 
times also thoughtfulness, but who fall short in 
energy, and robustness, and fortitude of mind. 
They will occupy themselves pleasurably with 
study, but are wanting in the volition required 
for an effort. These are apt to cry out against 
competitions which require prodttction with accu- 
racy and completeness ; but to be forced to aim 
at this is just what such persons want. They need 
a strong stimulus to brace them to an effort : 
they are of the type of the men who go through 
life with some reputation for cleverness, but who 
have nothing to shew in the way of work done at 
the end of it. It is one of the advantages of a 
competition, that it reveals to us something about 
the relative strength of will and moral courage of 
the candidates. Moreover it pitches the whole 
tone of a young man's character in a higher key, 
for him to have some achievement, or some feat 
of endurance and self-command, effected in early 



On Alar king and Classing. 507 

life, to turn back to. When he has proved him- 
self equal to an occasion once, he is less likely 
to shrink from a call afterwards (see p. 36). 

As to the arrangement, then, of the names of 
candidates in the lists resulting from Examina- 
tions, I conclude as follows : 

When the Examinations are in the higher 
parts of learning, or when, as in Professional 
Examinations, the learner means to make use of 
the knowledge under review, the names in the 
classes should be in alphabetical order. The 
more classes the candidates are divided into, the 
more the Examination list will tell us about the 
acquirements of an individual ; the more in fact 
the list will approximate to an order of merit. 

In Natural and Moral Science, and when 
various subjects are included (see p. 497), no close 
determination of relative merit can be effected, 
so that, even -though we should view our Exami- 
nation as educational, we must be content with 
an alphabetical arrangement in numerous classes, 
or what comes nearly to the same thing, but is 
sometimes more convenient, with an arrangement 
in a few classes, each class being broken up into 
two or more brackets. 

We now come to Examinations used to assist 
education. These we want to make available as 



5o8 Ofi Marking and Classing. 

means of selection in order to avoid having our 
education warped, by youths being trained for 
competitions which are not framed in the in- 
terest of education. To effect this the results 
must be put Into as close an order of merit as 
they can justly be. Moreover for purely edu- 
cational purposes, we require to supply motives 
of exertion to the student, so long, but so long 
only, as the student Is of an age to be regarded 
as In a state of pupillage. 

A list in order of merit supplies a continuous 
stimulant throughout. If a prize or a loss of pros- 
pects, dependent on a small difference, be of too 
much importance, this may produce a feverish 
action. In order to obviate this, emoluments 
should be of moderate value, and a loctis poeniten- 
tiae afforded when possible. But the advantage 
of a continuous stimulus I hold to counterbalance 
the evils In most cases for the young. When a list 
is broken up Into alphabetical classes, its action 
as a stimulus is Intermittent, and It only operates 
up to the standai^d for admission to the first class. 
A student says, " I feel sure of a second class, 
and I know I can not get a first." He then reads 
in a languid way, and the more so from reaction, 
because until he felt sure of his second class he 
was as much acted on by competition as though 



On Marking and Classing. 509 

the classification were in order of merit. Hence 
this plan causes alternate fits of excitement and 
langour. It is true that though classes are alpha- 
betical, rumours get about. The successful man 
hears from some one that he is one of the " best 
first classes" in his year : but this kind of un- 
certain report is useless for selection and is in 
all ways unwholesome. To prevent the higher 
men stagnating at the level of the bottom of the 
first class, some future competition, perhaps one 
for Fellowships, has to be brought into sight. 

A third course is possible; it is to arrange 
the first class alphabetically or in two brackets, 
and the others in order of merit. This may be 
supported on the ground that with the higher 
men the Examination is a test of knowledge 
regarded as valuable in itself, and for the others 
a test of scholastic diligence. A small first class 
may be alphabetically arranged on the ground of 
the knowledge shewn being that of the savant in 
a certain degree : but it is very desirable that the 
lower classes should be arranofed in order of 
merit as much as possible ; for the students 
who fill these classes need all the stimulus that 
can be applied, and are not likely to be driven 
to over- reading. If the lower classes are alpha- 
betically arranged they act as a mere pass Exami- 



5IO On Marking and Classing. 

nation, and the aim of the students may then be to 
do as httle as possible consistently with avoiding 
rejection. The third class in the Classical Tripos 
at Cambridge was at one time classed alpha- 
betically, and the effect was very unsatisfactory. 

One other point connected with close classi- 
fication has to be mentioned. It is not thought 
fair to class one who has had four years of 
University study along with those who have 
had only three. This consideration had more 
force formerly than it has now, because tutors 
iare found in many places who can bring a student 
forward as well as if he were at the University. 
There is still, however, some advantage got from 
long residence, so that a person might sometimes 
improve his degree by waiting for another year. 
This at Cambridge is not allowed, unless evidence 
is brought to shew that the student has been pre- 
vented from reading during this time by illness. 
He may then get permission to " degrade" as it is 
technically called. H ere we have a singular instance 
of the importance attached to the obtaining places 
as compared with that of obtaining education, 
for the student is discouraored from reading what 
is best for him, and forced to take an ordinary 
degree, that he may not prejudice others. The 
rule was made early in this century. A more 



On Marking and Classing. 511 

reasonable limit would be one of age, so that a 
person should not be allowed to compete for a 
place after a certain time of life. 

At Oxford of course no such rule exists, as 
the alphabetical arrangement renders it unneces- 
sary. The object of the rule might be very 
easily obtained without preventing those who 
have passed the proper age or standing from pre- 
senting themselves, or discouraging them from, 
study. Their names might be appended to the 
class they gain, not put in any place, but alpha- 
betically in a list at the end of the Wranglers or 
Senior Optimes, or whatever the appropriate class 
might be. I allow that it is not desirable to 
induce persons to decline Examinations at the 
last moment, but the penalty of getting no place, 
but only a class, with a mark indicating that 
they were superannuated for competition would 
meet the case. 

The use of viva voce Examinations must not 
be altogether omitted, although they are spoken 
of at the end of Chapter iv. It is difficult to 
employ them' on a large scale, because they are 
costly in time, and therefore in money. 

In a viva voce Examination there ought to be 
not less than two Examiners present, and the 
Examination of each candidate in an unportant 



512 On Marking and Classing, 

subject should last at least twenty minutes, but 
the number of candidates in almost all Examina- 
tions is now so large that the time required and 
the consequent expense of the Examination would 
be very considerable. The chief use of viva voce 
Is to oblige the student to shew the state of his 
knowledge ; and It Is more effective for finding 
out unsoundness and latent Ignorance than for 
judging between the ablest men. When the can- 
didates are examined with a view to some prac- 
tical employment, the readiness and brightness 
of the candidate, brought out by viva voce, may 
properly go In his favour. We hear much of the 
allowances to be made for nervousness, but I have 
seldom known men of real knowledge or ability 
Incapacitated by nervousness. 

In pass Examinations, viva voce is of great 
use ; nothing so much defeats "cram." If unseen 
passages In classics cannot be given, viva voce. 
should be more largely employed, but I fear its 
expenslveness will interfere with its coming into 
commoner use. 

I will take this opportunity of remarking on 
the expense of Examinations. Those which are 
carried on In the Universities are defrayed by the 
Examinees themselves in the form of fees to the 
University and, owing to the residence of Exa- 



On Marking and Classing. 513 

miners in the University, this expense is com- 
paratively small. When candidates have to go 
to a particular place for Examination the ex- 
pense is great, and increases with the length of 
the Examination ; hence the tendency to drop 
viva voce, and otherwise to shorten Examinations, 
which diminishes their trustworthiness. If 500 
candidates attend a Government Examination in 
London, they may have to spend £10 each in 
the Examination fee, railway fare, lodging and 
maintenance. This amounts to a tax of £5000 
a year on a certain class, paid for the sole purpose 
of enabling the patronage to be fairly dispensed : 
this is worth consideration. If educational Ex- 
aminations conducted at the schools could be 
turned to account, a considerable saving might 
be effected. 

I need say but a few words on the marking 
and classing in Pass or Qualifying Examinations. 
It is usually necessary to insist on a pass in each 
subject separately, otherwise candidates may 
neglect some of the subjects. It is also desirable 
to exclude those who shew great *' general de- 
bility" throughout. The best system seems to 
be to lay down a miniimim in each subject, such 
as two-fifths of the full marks, and a higher 
standard, perhaps a half or three-fifths, for the 
L. 33 



514 On Marking and Classing. 

aggregate ; a person would then fail altogether, 
who fell below the mark in a single subject or who 
did not obtain the higher standard in his aggre- 
gate. Sometimes optional subjects are introduced 
in which the candidate is not obliged to pass, 
but which will yield him marks ; these are some- 
times allowed to reckon in his aggregate so as to 
save him from failure, sometimes not so, but only 
to raise him in the Lists. 

Pass Examination Lists, it may be observed, 
should be divided into Classes in order to give 
scope for gaining a little credit. *' Pass men " 
are keen for such distinctions, and we ought to 
take advantage of this. If we have an undivided 
alphabetical List the Candidates have no induce- 
ment to do more than is required for passing. 
Indeed the man who narrowly scrapes through, 
thinks that he has done better for himself than 
other people, because he has attained what he 
wanted at less cost. Pass Examinations with a 
low standard are very injurious to education. 
When a notoriously weak man passes, his class- 
fellows lose respect for the Examination ; and if 
reports circulate that A. or B. has been let 
through on answering a small portion of the 
paper, the standard of preparation immediately 
falls. 



On Marking and Classing. 515 

Pass Examinations have two leading objects, 
(i) to sift out incapacity, (2) to provide an edu- 
cational course for persons of moderate ability : 
such persons are so numerous that their case de- 
mands great attention. Examinations which are 
preliminary to professional courses are supposed 
to aim at object (i) and also to ensure some sort 
of liberal education, but they are commonly too 
low to effect these purposes. 

In a University course for an Ordinary Degree 
the chief object is mental discipline. Many youths 
on coming to College have little use of any facul- 
ties but the verbal memory ; often they have great 
difficulty in concentrating attention, and much time 
is taken up in getting their brains into working 
order. 

Subjects must therefore be chosen, not for 
their value as acquirements, but for their aptitude 
for forcing the pupil to do something else than 
learn by heart. The form of the subject, too, 
must be such that it can be given, a portion at a 
time, and that the teacher can see whether the 
pupil has really done his part. Since we want to 
give a habit, the work will take time ; for nearly 
the whole good got by a Pass man seems to 
come in his third year. 

We want our subjects then to occupy a certain 



5i6 On Markijig and Classing. 

time, and we desire that they should be read 
steadily throughout this time, and not carried 
through by a rush at the last. This Is notoriously 
very hard to effect. One difficulty is to oblige 
the student to read the whole of the book that is 
given. If he can get through with two-fifths of 
the marks he may think that he need only read 
half the book. If the subjects depend on con- 
secutive reasoning, like Mathematics or Political 
Economy, our object may be effected by letting it 
be understood that the latter parts of the book 
will yield the most marks, for the student must 
read the earlier parts in order to understand the 
latter; but if the subject does not proceed by 
steps this cannot be done. 

The German plan is to set only one question 
or passage: but the Pass students, though they 
may be twenty years old, are still at the Gymna- 
sium, where they are forced to read the complete 
works : if youths were left to themselves, it is to 
be feared that they would read only "likely parts," 
and trust to fortune. If we oblige students to 
pass separately in small portions of their work — 
each book, for instance, of Euclid, or of their 
classical author, we overwhelm them with worry, 
and drive them to private tutors, to see that 
they know their books ''all round." Perhaps 



On Marking and Classing. 517 

the best plan is, to have frequent Examina- 
tions with short subjects, and a more compre- 
hensive one, gathering up the principal matters, 
at the end of the course. In fact, for the Pass 
men the criterion lies, not in their passing a 
particular Examination, but in their completing a 
course. The test is rather moral than intellectual, 
it is one of condtict, it turns on their having been 
able to get their work done by stated times when 
they were left to themselves to do it. The value 
of the B.A. depends on this last condition. A 
boy at home or at school can be put through all 
the Pass University Examinations, but is not a 
bit the more a University student — his tastes, 
propensities and will, have not had room to grow. 
The essence of University life is free scope for 
individual development. The actual Examina- 
tions are of secondary importance, they are of 
use as shewing that the man has done what he 
had to do in one condition of life, and may there- 
fore be expected to do it in another. A student 
at a tutor's may be forced through all the Ex- 
aminations of a course in a lump, but this repre- 
sents no education at all. All the sides of his 
mind but one are left blank. All his energies have 
been given to this special preparation. He may 
have learnt as well as he could have done at 



5 1 8 071 Marking and Classing. 

College, but he has done nothing else. His life has 
remained folded up, he has been absorbed in a 
master object, his time has been ruled by others ; 
so when the germ at last breaks the husk, there 
is no knowing how it may turn out. With the 
University Pass man the Examinations are only 
among the incidents of three years of growing life ; 
a nature of his own has burst out, he has chosen 
friends for himself; his character, good or bad, has 
taken shape, and people can now judge fairly what 
he is worth. Sometimes a student after some 
failures leaves the University and works up the 
subjects in the country with a tutor. He then 
passes : but this passing is of no real value. He 
has failed from weakness of character, and this weak- 
ness, for all we know, continues. For a man to 
order his own time, to resist temptations, to keep 
punctually to his College engagements, and pass 
all his Examinations, moderate as they are, at 
proper intervals throughout three years, when 
living in a state of great freedom, is something 
to his credit; but that he should have been able 
to get up a certain amount of matter with a 
tutor always at hand, and no temptation or con- 
flicting interest near, shows only that he has some 
little power of acquiring. 



APPENDIX A. 



I THINK it will be useful to give some Extracts from that part 
of the Third Report of the Royal Commission on Scientific 
Instruction and the Advancement of Science which refers to 
Fellowships at the Universities, and I shall add a few notes. 
Some readers will require to be made acquainted with the 
principal differences in the circumstances under which Fel- 
lowships are acquired and held at Oxford and at Cambridge. 

At Oxford the commonest mode of electing is to hold an 
open Examination, generally conducted by the College au- 
thorities or by Examiners engaged by them. In many cases 
it is made a necessary qualification for a Candidate that he 
should have obtained a First Class in one of the Honour 
Schools. 

At Cambridge there is an Examination at Trinity College, 
open to all members of the College, and in certain cases open 
to the University. At other Colleges the University Examina- 
tions and Prizes are taken as tests of competency. 

Each Society may, however, satisfy themselves as to the 
qualification of a person by his performances in science or 
literature, or by a special Examination if they think fit, as has 
been done for persons who have been ill at the time of the Uni- 
versity Examinations. The desire to avoid jobbery has led the 
Colleges to cling rather closely to the published decisions of 
the University Examinations ; but there is not, in any case 
that I know of, as Undergraduates sometimes suppose, a " hard 
and fast" line as to what constitutes a Fellowship Degree. 



520 Appendix A. 



After stating these differences in the modes of election, the 
Commissioners observe as follows : 

164. "This last remark leads us on to another important 
difference between the two Universities. At Oxford the Fel- 
lowships of each College are filled up in accordance with the 
results of a competitive Examination held by the College, but 
open (when the Fellowship is subject to no clerical restriction) 
to all members of the University who have passed the Exa- 
minations required for the degree of Bachelors of Arts, and in 
many cases open also to all Graduates of any University in the 
United Kingdom. At Cambridge, on the other hand, those 
Colleges which award their Fellowships according to the re- 
sult of a Fellowship Examination, open the Examination, as a 
rule, only to members of the College, though the Statutes give 
power to the Governing Body, on any occasion when they 
think fit, to throw open the Examination to members of the 
University. At the smaller Colleges it is generally understood 
that the electors look in the first instance to members of their 
own College ; and in case there be no candidate of sufficient 
merit, or the needs of the College require a Fellow having 
some special qualifications not found among the otherwise 
eligible members of the College itself, they then 'go out of Col- 
lege,' as it is called, that is, elect to the Fellowship a member 
of some other College. 

165. " At Oxford, where the Examinations for Degrees are 
not competitive, it would be difficult to suggest any mode of 
electing to Fellowships other than that by competitive Exami- 
nation; but at Cambridge, where the names in the Honour hsts 
are arranged in order of merit, there is something to be said on 
both sides with respect to the desirableness or otherwise of 
special Fellowship Examinations. On the one hand, the wider 
study which such a system demands, enlarges the foundation 
which lies at the base of a subsequent career of professional 
activity or original research, as the case may be ; and means 
are afforded of remedying the result of accidental failure in a 
final examination, such as might arise from temporary illness 
or other similar cause. On the other hand, it is urged with 
great force that by the time a man has taken his degree, sup- 
posing him to have been industrious while an .Undergraduate, 
he has had enough of study pursued with a view to the imme- 
diate production of his knowledge at a moment's notice; and 



Appendix A. 521 



that he should then be left free to pursue his studies in a ihore 
systematic and specialized manner, and his originality should 
be no longer cramped by preparation for an impending Exa- 
mination. We attach great importance to this freedom from 
the immediate pressure of Examination at such a stage of the 
student's progress, and are disposed to regard the advantages 
which may attend the holding of special Fellowship Examina- 
tions as too dearly purchased by its sacrifice. But whatever 
differences may exist in the system of election to Fellowships 
in the two Universities, we think it very desirable that in both 
of them alike original research should be encouraged by taking 
into account any evidence of power in this direction which a 
candidate for a Fellowship is able to give." 

There is a difference in the rules at the two Universities 
with regard to the celibacy of Fellows. At Oxford, Fellows 
are not allowed to marry excepting when the Fellowship is 
attached to some important oifice. At Cambridge the restric- 
tion to celibacy has been abolished in four of the seventeen 
Colleges, and modified in some others. The Commissioners 
consider with reason that celibacy might be enforced on such 
of the Junior Fellows who from their offices must reside in 
College, so as to be readily accessible to students and to pre- 
serve order. I should attach this obligation to the office, and 
not to the Fellowship. 

At Oxford the Fellowships are commonly held until va- 
cated by marriage or the acceptance of College preferment ; 
and at Cambridge most of the clerical ones are so still, but 
the lay Fellowships are usually terminable. Fellowships may 
in some cases be held for an additional period as pensions 
for a term of College work. 

I have given the above extract in this place, because some 
readers may first want to know how it is that persons come to 
be Fellows of Colleges. I now give the general remarks on 
the subject from an earlier part of the Report. 

139. "The following are. the chief purposes to which in 
our judgment the Fellowships should be applied. 



522 Appendix A. 



" In the first place a certain but not a very large proportion 
of the Fellowships will be always required, as at present, for 
the payment of the persons entrusted with the management of 
the College estates, and with the government and administra- 
tion of the Colleges themselves. 

** Secondly, a large number of the Fellowships is at present 
employed, and probably a still larger number ought hereafter 
to be employed, in connexion with the Instruction given in the 
Colleges. 

" Thirdly, a smaller, but still a considerable number of Fel- 
lowships ought to be employed as Terminable Prize Fellowships. 

" Fourthly, a certain number of Fellowships ought, as we 
have already said, to be united with Professorships in the Uni- 
versity ; the University Professor becoming ex officio a Fellow 
of the College and a member of its Governing Body. 

'* Lastly, it is, in our opinion, most important that a certain 
number of Fellowships should be appropriated to the Direct 
Promotion of Learning and Research in various directions. It 
has been objected to this proposal that the Fellowship system, 
as hitherto administered, has not shown any great tendency to 
encourage Original Research, either in the field of learning or 
in that of science ; that, when an office is created simply and 
solely with the view of giving a man leisure and opportunity 
for original research, there is always the appearance, to say the 
least, of creating a sinecure ; and that it is impossible, as Pro- 
fessor Jowett has said, to get a man for money who can make 
a discovery. But,' though you cannot get a man for money to 
make a discovery, you may enable a man who has shown a 
special capacity for research to exert his powers ; and we are 
of opinion that unless an effort is made to do this, one of the 
great purposes for which learned bodies, such as the Colleges, 
exist, may run the risk of being wholly lost sight of. Scientific 
discoveries rarely bring any direct profit to their authors, nor 
is it desirable that original investigation should be undertaken 
with a view to immediate pecuniary results. 'Research,' as 
Lord Salisbury has observed, ' is unremunerative : it is highly 
' desirable for the community that it should be pursued, and, 
' therefore, the community must be content that funds should 
' be set aside to be given, without any immediate and calcu- 
' lable return in work, to those by whom the research is to be 
'pursued.' 



Appendix A. 523 



" It may be that properly qualified candidates for such 
scientific offices would not at first be numerous, but we believe 
that eventually a considerable number of Fellowships might 
be advantageously devoted to the encouragement of Original 
Research. 

140. "We think that such Fellowships as might be expressly 
destined for the advancement of Science and Learning should 
only be conferred on men who by their successful labours have 
already given proof of their earnest desire, and of their ability 
to promote knowledge; and we believe that appointments, 
made with a due regard to this principle, would be abundantly 
justified by results. A man who has once acquired the habit 
of original scientific work, is very unlikely ever to lose it ex- 
cepting through a total failure of his health and strength ; and 
even if it occasionally happened that a Fellowship awarded on 
the grounds of merit, as shown in original research, should 
only contribute to the comfort of the declining years of an 
eminent man of science, there are many persons who would 
feel that it could not have been better expended in any other 
way. 

141. " We should not wish to attach any educational duties 
properly so called to a Fellowship awarded with a view of 
encouraging Original Research in Science. But for many 
reasons we should think it desirable that the holder of such 
a Fellowship should be expected to give an account, from time 
to time, in the form of public discourses, of the most recent 
researches in his own department of science. 

142. " We now proceed to offer some suggestions with re- 
gard to one of the most difficult questions relating to the Fellow- 
ships, the Conditions of their Tenure. In doing so, we think 
it desirable to treat separately the cases of Fellowships held by 
those who aspire to make their way in the outer world, and by 
those who look to an University career. 

143. " In the case of the former, or non-resident class, the 
tenure of the Fellowship should, as we have already said, be 
limited to a term of years ; and we are disposed to think that 
a term of seven years would suffice for every useful purpose. 
In the case of such terminable Fellowships, held by non- 
residents ; the restriction of celibacy which, originating doubt- 
less in the celibacy of the Clergy, has been very generally 



524 Appendix A. 



retained as a means of leading to a more rapid succession, be- 
comes unmeaning, and ought we think to be removed. 

144. " The most important use of the latter, or resident 
class of Fellowships, is to enable the Universities to retain a 
large staff of able teachers and workers. 

145. ^' From the evidence before us it appears that the 
Colleges find some difficulty in obtaining efficient tutors and 
lecturers. Professor Jowett observes, ' We have always a great 
' difficulty about teachers. In fact, at Oxford the whole thing 
' seems to require to be re-constituted; there is such a difficulty 
' in keeping the best men there, and they stay for so short a 
* time. If we are to keep men as teachers, we must get rid 
' of the condition of celibacy.' 

146. "There are other difficulties, which are not adverted to 
by Professor Jowett in these remarks, besides that occasioned by 
the restriction to celibacy. One of them is that in endeavour- 
ing to obtain teachers not only do the Colleges, to a certain 
extent, bid against one another, but each College bids against 
itself. A College offers a distinguished man, shortly after he has 
taken his degree, an income say of ;^25o a year as a Fellow, and 
of ^^250 a year additional' as a Lecturer, so that, in fact, the 
College offers him ;^5oo a year if he will stay and be a teacher, 
but at the same moment it offers him ;^25o a year even if he 
goes away. Under these circumstances we can hardly wonder 
that the inducements offered by tutorships and lectureships 
are not sufficient even in the first instance to command the 
services of the men whom it would be most desirable to retain; 
and the difficulty is greatly increased by the further fact that 
as the University system is at present organised the teaching 
offices in the Colleges do not offer any very inviting prospect 
of further advancement. 

147. "A man who accepts a Fellowship and a Lectureship 
in a College will find that at the end of 20 years of service 
he is much less fit for the special work in which he has been 
engaged than he was when he began it, and probably he will 
also find that he has not been in the meantime preparing him- 
self for any other occupation for which he would be more suit- 
able, and in which he might obtain larger emoluments. In 
former times, when the connexion between Fellowships and 
the obligation to take Holy Orders was almost universal, the 
difficulty which is here referred to did not arise. It was met 



Appendix A. 525 



by the system of College Livings. It was then the most 
natural thing in the world for a young clergyman to devote 
himself for nine or ten years to giving instruction in Classics 
and Theology, and if work of this kind was not continued too 
long, it was generally thought to form no bad preparation for 
the duties of a parish priest. But at the present time, the Fel- 
lowships are very largely held by laymen, and there appears, 
for some reason, to be a growing disinclination on the part of 
the men who now engage in tuition in the Colleges to take 
Holy Orders. Thus the layman who becomes a College Tutor 
or Lecturer finds himself entirely cut off from every other pro- 
fession, and dependent exclusively upon that of teaching, the 
great prizes of which are to be found in the Public Schools 
and not in the Colleges, inasmuch as the Professorships are too 
few in number to offer much prospect of promotion within the 
University, while the Headships are still to a greater extent 
restricted to clergymen. It is not surprising under these cir- 
cumstances, that there is a widespread feeling in the Universi- 
ties that the tutorial system is falling into a state of disorgani- 
zation. It is felt that the College Tutorships and Lectureships 
do not lead to any permanent positions in the end, although 
they are, perhaps, a little too highly paid at the beginning, if, 
at least, we regard the Fellowship as part payment for the 
work done. What is wanted is a graduated succession of 
offices, such as would make the business of a College Tutor 
a profession which an able and distinguished young man might 
embrace without imprudence. 

148. "To a certain extent this want has been already sup- 
plied, in both Universities, by the increase which has recently 
taken place in the number and value of the Professorships. 
But, as we have already seen, these offices are still so few, and, 
in some cases, so poorly endowed as to offer little inducement 
to a man to look forward to an University career. Further, we 
do not think that an University office is in every case the most 
fitting reward for a man who has shown himself eminently use- 
ful in College work. 

149. " We are, therefore, of opinion that it is to Offices 
within the Colleges that we must mainly look for inducements 
to able and useful men to devote themselves to College work. 
We think that one who has proved his success as an Educator, 
might fitly be elected to a Permanent (or, as we shall here call 



526 Appendix A. 



it, a Senior) Fellowship, which should be free from the restric- 
tion of celibacy, though subject, as a rule, to the condition of 
residence in the University and of readiness to take some part 
in the work of the College or the University. 

150. "A Senior Fellowship would also (in accordance with 
the recommendation already made) be fitly conferred on the 
ground of services rendered to Science or Learning by Original 
Research. 

15 1. " The question remains, what should be the status of 
a resident Fellow who aspires to a Senior Fellowship ? 

152. "An advantage attending the old system of tenure 
undoubtedly is, that while it does not offer a man a permanent 
provision unless he looks forward to leading a life of celibacy, it 
yet permits him to apply his mind to any course of study, free 
from all care as to his immediate future. We fear that the 
anxieties attending a short tenure would have the effect of dis- 
couraging men from engaging in Original Research ; and even 
in the less uncertain career of Education, we fear that the 
prospect of election to a Senior Fellowship would be so uncer- 
tain that unless a considerably longer tenure were allowed to 
Probationary (or, as we will now call them, Junior) Fellows 
than would suffice for non-residents engaging in professions, 
the University would be drained of its best men. 

153. " On the other hand, if there were no counterbalancing 
advantages in a non-resident Fellowship, we fear the effect 
might be to cause men to linger on at the University who 
would do better to engage at once in a profession. We think, 
therefore, it might be advisable for the individual Colleges to 
make such an adjustment between the advantages of the two 
kinds of Fellowships as should preserve a due balance in their 
attractiveness. 

154. " The Junior Fellows might be expected to reside in 
College, and thereby aid in preserving the discipline of the 
place. Accordingly, the retention of a Junior Fellowship might 
in the discretion of the College be subject to the restriction of 
celibacy. 

155- " While it is only right to give a Junior Fellow ample 
time for exhibiting his capacity for an University career, it 
seems highly desirable to allow a Fellow who had preferred the 
junior to the non-resident tenure, but who aftenvards found 



Appendix A. 527 



that he was not suited for University Work or Original Investi- 
gation, and had small chance of promotion, to engage without 
delay in some promotion independent of the University. We 
should, therefore, allow a Junior Fellow the option of stepping 
on to the non-resident tenure, in which case the same propor- 
tion of the whole time of tenure of a non-resident might be 
allowed to him as remained to him of his time of tenure as a 
junior. The option of a newly-elected Fellow to be placed on 
the non-resident tenure, or of a junior to transfer himself to 
the non-resident class, should be limited by the restriction that 
there be at least a certain number of juniors, so as to preserve 
a sufficient staff of Fellows resident in College. 

156. " The questions relating to the tenure of Fellowships, 
which we have now discussed, have been incidentally brought 
under our notice in various parts of the evidence which we 
have taken. These questions are also raised in a Memorial 
submitted to the First Lord of the Treasury, by a large number 
of influential resident members of the University of Cambridge, 
a copy of which has been forwarded to us, and will be found 
in the Appendix to this Report. 

157. " We are convinced that the future interests of Scientific 
Study and Research at the two Universities must of necessity 
be greatly affected by any changes that may be made in the 
tenure of the Fellowships, and, consequently, in the Consti- 
tution of the Governing Bodies of the Colleges. But as we 
have not taken a complete body of evidence on this subject, 
and as we consider that any attempt to do so would lead us 
into inquiries beyond the scope of our Commission, we shall 
abstain from offering any detailed recommendations with regard 
to these important questions. We desire, however, to express 
our conviction that if the Colleges are to become, to a greater 
degree than in times past, the homes of men distinguished for 
Original Research in Science, provision must be made for 
attaching such men in a permanent manner to the College 
Foundations, and for rendering them permanent members of 
the Governing Bodies. 

158. *' The following proposals appear to us to sum up the 
results of the preceding discussion. To adapt them to the 
case of some of the smaller foundations, important modifica- 
tions would be required ; and, even in the case of the larger 
Colleges, we should wish them to be regarded only in the light 



528 Appendix A. 



of suggestions, which we feel to be worthy of attention, but at 
the same time to be by no means free from objection. 

" (i) That there should be three classes of Fellows, which 
we have distinguished as Senior, Junior, and Non-resident. 

" (2) That the Senior Fellowships should be permanent, and 
free from the restriction of celibacy, but subject, as a general 
rule, to the condition of residence in the University and readi- 
ness to take some part in the work of the College or University. 

" (3) That the elections to the Seniority should, in ordi- 
nary cases, be made from the class of juniors, but should not 
be limited to that class. 

" (4) That the Junior Fellowships should be tenable for, 
say fourteen years, and should be subject to such restrictions 
as to residence in College and duties as may appear desirable 
to the several Colleges. 

" (5) That the Non-resident Fellowships should be tenable 
for about half that time, free from all restrictions. 

" (6) That a person elected to an Ordinary (as distin- 
guished from a Senior) Fellowship should have tlie option of 
being placed on the junior or non-resident tenure, and that a 
Junior Fellow should at any time be at liberty to place him- 
self on the non-resident tenure (but not conversely), with a 
proportionate allowance for the unexpired portion of his time 
of holding his Fellowship as Junior Fellow ; provided that the 
number of Junior Fellows be not suffered to sink below a cer- 
tain minimum. 

159. " The effect of these proposals would be to constitute 
in each College a seniority of a very permanent kind, because 
its members would hold their places for life, and would be 
free from the restriction of celibacy. Whatever share in the 
government of the College it might be thought proper to 
assign to the holders of the terminable Junior Fellowships, it 
is evident that the influence of such a permanent seniority 
would be very great, and that the prosperity of the College 
would depend in great measure on its constitution. According 
to the above proposals (taken in connexion with the recom- 
mendations we have already made), the seniority in each Col- 
lege would consist (i) of University Professors officially attached 
to the College ; (ii) of persons elected for eminent services to 
Learning or Science; (3) of men who had given some of the 
best years of their lives to the service of the College, and had 



- Appendix A. 529 

proved their fitness for College work. It would be for the 
Universities and the Colleges, to consider whether a body so 
constituted would be in all respects suitable for the important 
functions it would have to discharge. In particular, it would 
be worthy of careful consideration whether such a seniority 
should be allowed to appoint its own members by co-optation, 
or whether the whole body of Fellows should elect, or whether 
the filling up of vacancies should be vested in some authority 
external to the Colleg'e ; or, lastly, whether some course inter- 
mediate between these several modes of procedure should be 
adopted." 

The suggestions (in Sect. 139) agree in the main with my own 
views, but I would make a clearer distinction between the Fel- 
lowship Avhich gives a voice in the government of the College 
and the mere prize Fellowship, which I have called a " Student- 
ship." The holder of a Studentship might of course be em- 
ployed as a Lecturer by the authority at the head of the Educa- 
tional department. This might be the Master of the College or 
a Council, but he should be simply engaged as a stipendiary. 
The higher officers of the College occupied in conducting edu- 
cation or maintaining discipline should, I conceive, be ex officio 
members of the Governing Body. 

I am not sanguine of a harvest of great achievements from 
the " endowment of research;" but the University, by encou- 
raging undertakings which only want assiduity and intelligence, 
by setting afoot, for instance, the framing of Books of Reference 
in various departments of learning — a point in which we are 
much worse provided than Germany — or by issuing carefull}-- 
executed editions of erudite works, might keep together a body 
of literary men by paying for results with only moderate retain- 
ing pensions. An inducement to exertion in some special 
direction must be held out, or some definite employment must 
be provided. A person who has no motive for exertion may, 
no doubt, study for his own pleasure, but this is another thing 
from prosecuting work that the world will be the better for. 

u 34 



530 Appendix A. 

The question of remuneration has become a most im- 
portant one. When Fellows of Colleges were clergymen, there 
were few careers open to them, and the current pay of clerical 
work afforded a standard for that of College work; but now a 
young man of high degree looks to the large prizes to be ob- 
tained in active life as depicted by youthful hopes. 

The question now, is not '^ What is a sufficient return for so 
much work ?" but " On what terms can we secure the services 
of the men we want ?" First-class ability of all kinds is in 
good demand, and some varieties of it fetch higher prices than 
others. The maintaining of discipline, for instance, is un- 
pleasant, and it requires energy, conscientiousness, promptitude 
of decision, kindliness and judgment ; but those who possess 
these qualities allied with high cultivation are suited for many 
high positions. Their possessor soon finds his value. Even if 
he would himself prefer staying at the University, he may feel 
it imperative on him to attend to the wishes and interests of 
his family. There will be more difficulty in keeping the Uni- 
versities well provided with a disciplinal and administrative 
staff equal to their increasing needs, than in attaching to them 
men of literary or scientific pursuits. 

But not only have Colleges now to go into the open 
market to obtain Lecturers, but they really, as is said in sec- 
tion 146, raise the market against themselves; for by giving 
large annuities free from duties to young men, they enable them 
to take pleasant positions of moderate profit which they would 
not otherwise have accepted. Many Fellows of Colleges take 
school work, and it is sometimes urged that exceptional privi- 
leges should be allowed to those who do so, as being engaged in 
education. But the funds of an establishment must first be 
applied to the purposes of that establishment. If they may be 
put to any uses that are beneficial, they may be dissipated 
)Dy being, thereby, spread over a very large area. If a 
Fellow of a College is not a better man for the purpose of 



Appendix A. 531 

assistant master than the school could otherwise get for the 
pay it gives, then education does not benefit by his taking the 
place; and if he is better, the persons who benefit are the 
parents of the boys. Now these persons in the case of the 
public schools, to which these remarks chiefly apply, are the 
most opulent class of the country. 

The remarks of Sect. 147 are most just ; the concluding sen- 
tences point out a cause of discontent. Since the Fellowship 
is a fixed sum, College Lecturers are at starting rich compared 
with their contemporaries, but the ultimate prospect is insuffi- 
cient. The question of retiring pensions will be a very serious 
one. The change from a clerical to a lay body has been very 
costly. The College livings which took off the College Tutors 
in middle life answered the purpose of retirements, but now 
they answer this purpose only in a few cases. College 
Tutors who find themselves fathers of families will not retire 
when they have ceased to be effective, unless handsome retire- 
ments are provided. The same difficulty exists in the case 
of Professors in all Universities, and also in the Government 
Public Offices, and I think that the scale of retiring allowances 
in use in these last may be found serviceable as a guide. 

The difficulty will be to find capital, as the Colleges have 
no ready money, while Examination Halls, Scientific Work- 
shops, and above all, buildings for the reception of more 
students are much needed. Cambridge at present is over-full. 
The prices of lodgings are too high. Students coming up on 
short notice in October are forced to go into undesirable quar- 
ters, and are glad to get a room at all. The lodging-house, 
keepers have the upper hand of the Tutors. This is a great 
trouble and a very ancient one. Hostels, we find, were set up 
in the earliest days to avoid the extortion of the toivnspeople. 
Probably the townspeople got no more than a fair return for 
what they gave. In every town there must be some spare ac- 
commodation, there are interstices, as it were, which can be 

34—2 



532 Appendix A. 

occupied without much cost. While this lasts, lodgings are 
cheap in a University town ; but afterwards houses are built, 
not because the fixed town population wants more room, 
but on purpose for lodgings. People come to the place 
to make a living by keeping lodging-houses. Then we have 
a sudden rise in price, because the whole rent of the house 
is to be made out of the lodgings, and we have also to pay 
wages of superintende?ice ; the landlords have to be main- 
tained, in great part at least, by the profits. At Cambridge 
the superintendence is difficult; many tradesmen are giving up 
lodgers as not being worth the trouble; restrictions must be 
imposed in order to see that students keep reasonable hours, 
and sanitary regulations as to water supply, &c. are now 
being enforced under the charge of an Inspector appointed 
on purpose. All this costs money; and as the lodgings are not 
occupied more than seven months — for in the Long Vacation 
all the students come in to the Colleges — and ground is limited, 
the returns will not be good enough to induce more building, 
unless the rents be very high. The Licensing Board at- 
tempts to prevent the rents being immoderate, and, as a fact, 
insufficient building of lodgings, compared to our necessi- 
ties, takes place. Many Colleges have still room to build, 
some are engaged in building, and large Hostels may be 
erected on a joint-stock principle; but without extensive build- 
ing the increase of our numbers must soon stop. The large 
proportion of students in lodgings is beginning to be found a 
serious inconvenience. Considerable additions are wanted also 
for the Halls and Lecture-rooms of the Colleges, and, if the 
College system is to be maintained in efficiency. College funds 
should be devoted to these needs before creating any Pro- 
fessorships which are not absolutely needed. 

This difficulty about lodgings is not confined to England : 
Berlin from the high price of lodgings has lost a large number 
of its students, who have gone to Leipzig for cheapness. 



Appendix A. '533 

(Sect. 158.) I think that the two classes of Fellows here 
spoken of would cause complications. I would have it made 
quite clear whether a man gets his pay as a prize or for work 
done. Much difficulty comes from the two being confused. 

No person, whether he be called a Student or Junior Fel- 
low, should be in a position to consider that he had rights to 
any tutorial office, or that he was aggrieved by being passed 
over. The supreme educational authority should be as free in 
engaging its officers as is the Head Master of a school. The 
superior officers. Tutors, Deans, and Bursars, should be ex 
officio Fellows, and therefore members of the Governing Body, 
but they should lay down this position with their office, unless 
they were transferred into non-official Fellowships, see p. 437. 
But a pensioned official would not, as a rule, remain a Fellow, 
according to my view. 

The Seniority described in section 159 would consist too 
exclusively of men advanced in life to constitute by itself a 
good Governing Body. The object should be to preserve a due 
proportion of old and young. The admission of the College 
officers into this " Seniority" and the removal of those who 
accepted retirements would keep it on a level with the general 
body of the University in point of the standing of its members. 



APPENDIX B. 



ON FELLOWSHIPS AS "LADDERS. 



The action of Fellowships as "ladders" enabling young 
men to enter on various careers hardly comes under the 
notice of the Scientific Commission. This side of the ques- 
tion has, however, a great interest for some classes of the 
community. Mr Henry Sidgwick, of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, deals with this topic in a very able article, headed 
"Idle Fellowships," in the Contemporary Review of April, 
1876. I must refer my readers especially to the statistics 
there given as to the lines of life followed by the non- 
resident Fellows of Colleges. Mr Sidgwick points out 
conclusively that Society gets no return for subsidising the 
Masters of School Boarding-Houses, School Inspectors, or 
those who are engaged in other practical vocations. The Bar, 
he observes, is the Profession, in which such "Ladders" 
are supposed to operate most advantageously. A few cases 
in which striking service is rendered catch the eye of 
the public, but Mr Sidgwick is not inclined to believe that 
the great men who are instanced, would have remained in 
obscurity if a Fellowship had not come to their aid; that 
by College help, men, not of marked forensic ability, should 
get called to the Bar, Mr Sidgwick rightly regards as a doubt- 
ful good to themselves and to the Profession. He allows that 
it is desirable to have the best ability of the country to choose 



Appendix B. 535 

from in selecting the Judges of the Highest Courts and the 
Law Officers of the Crown. Mr Sidgwick thinks that it is 
rather the business of the corporations who have the super- 
vision of the Bar, to draw first-rate talent to their Profession by 
offering some provision at starting to those who have shewn 
evidence of superior powers. 

The connexion of the English Bar, however, with the 
Universities is supported by a strong sentiment, and this 
sentiment can give an account of itself. It is a distinguishing 
feature of English Society, that men in high positions are so 
often persons of great general cultivation. Provision might be 
made whereby a College, with the consent of the Visitor or of 
a large majority of the Body, could extend the tenure of a 
Studentship where they saw unusual promise of professional 
success, or even, at particular Colleges, such promise might, in a 
marked case, be admitted as a ground of election to one of the 
Terminable Fellowships spoken of in p. 437. 

Mr Sidgwick pronounces against all Prize emoluments ex- 
cept those which go to maintain the Student during his course. 
I agree with the general tenour of his remarks so far as they 
apply to the prospect of an immediate return in money for 
the highest kinds of study; these ought to have some charm of 
their own and are degraded by being viewed as directly 
marketable commodities. But some criterion must be found 
for deciding whether these attainments are possessed, because 
the fitness of persons for certain posts depends on these attain- 
ments : the kind of Examination spoken of in p. 191, which 
would be far less competitive and less mechanical than those 
now in use, might serve the purpose. Those who did well might 
obtain Fellowships, not as rewards for what they had done in 
Examinations, but as places given them because they are 
proved competent to perform the duties. But though in this 
way the higher literary and scientific culture may lead to 
employment enough to provide for its genuine votaries, yet 



'5 3 6 Appendix B. 

this Is not the case with that kind of study which results only 
in what I have called student knoivledge, see pp. 353 — 358, and 
it will be rarely that young men of 21 or 22 can attain much 
more. I do not, then, see my way to dispensing with some com- 
pensation to young men for the prolonged education drill, as 
Mr Sidgwick calls it, which is necessary, both for laying in the 
requisite scientific apparatus, and for fitting the mind for 
thorough and accurate investigation. The want of this is 
often apparent even in men of great ability, whose learning has 
come late. Parents, especially those of the class whose at- 
tention is now being drawn to the Universities, and also youths 
themselves, are impatient of this preparation. A youth entering 
an office at 17, may find himself in the receipt of ^120 to 
;j^i8o a-year when he is 22. I find that men taking a business 
view of the matter expect some chance of direct advantage, 
equivalent to this income, to follow from the prolongation of 
study. 

It may then be necessary to award, not Prize Fello-ivships, 
but Prize Studentships, as rewards for proficiency in the educa- 
tional parts of the course, which I have proposed to separate, 
whenever it is possible, from the higher study intended 
for those meaning to pursue learning as an occupation for life, 
pp. 407, 408. In the case of those who proceed to these 
higher subsequent studies, the Studentships would actually 
support the learner during his prolonged course, for others 
they would serve as "Ladders," but they would be short ones, 
and less costly than Fellowships; they might require a little 
lengthening to afford access to the Bar, but Avould lend 
effectual assistance for admission to many callings. The ex- 
pense of entering Professions in England is far greater than 
in Germany. It costs a large sum to " article " a youth to a 
Solicitor or a Civil Engineer, and a heavy stamp-duty is levied 
in many cases : this seems to me an objectionable form of 
tax. To remove such artificial barrier is a legitimate form of 



Appendix B. 537 



giving assistance to promising youths, and unless such a 
removal be effected by external aid, the " Ladder " system 
which connects the lower with the upper strata, stops short 
of the tableland on the top of the cliff, and only lands the 
climber on a narrow strip. 

Considering the competition of Government appointments 
obtainable by Examination, of openings in business, of colonial 
enterprise, and the need for something like Fellowships which 
has been felt in Germany, where scientific and literary ap- 
pointments are ten times as many as in England, and where 
the patience of young men in waiting for a post contrasts 
strongly with the hurry to be making money which pre- 
vails around us; I do not think it advisable at present, at any 
rate, to throw aside all rewards and trust to the love of learning 
and the respect for culture for keeping up the standard of our 
Schools and Universities. It may be observed that it will be 
almost impossible for any modification of Prize rewards to 
be made, unless by some central authority empowered to deal 
with both Universities and with the Colleges in each, for such 
modifications must be made on some general system. Our 
experience shews that the number of promising students at 
the different places of education is nearly proportional to what 
each has to give. If this is affected the distribution of such 
students will also be changed. No state in Europe could 
disarm by itself, and each would keep a keen eye on the peace 
establishments retained by its neighbours. Something may 
recal this to our minds when reductions in Fellowships and 
*' Open Scholarships " in the several Colleges of the two 
Universities come under discussion. 



APPENDIX C. 



NOTES ON PROFESSORIAL TEACHING. 

The working of what is called the Professorial system may 
soon attract attention, and I therefore append some rough 
notes which I had made with a view to a chapter on Public 
Teaching in relation to Examinations. (See Preface, p. viii.) 

The Professorial system, as it is called, comprises a variety 
of different modes of teaching which have only this in com- 
mon, that the teachers have the title of Professors. It is dif- 
ficult to determine in what the essence of the system lies. 
According to one of many attempts that have been made to 
lay hold of such a differentia, it consists in the " teaching by 
the great authorities" in the various subjects. 

As a matter of fact it can hardly be said that those who 
have the title of Professor are always superior in knowledge to 
other teachers who have it not. Neither are there many Uni- 
versities in which the chief part of this teaching is carried on 
by the great authorities : it would be a waste of power if it 
were so; indeed if the time of such persons were spent in 
teaching, they would cease to be the great authorities in their 
departments. In Germany the Privatdocenten do much of 
the lecturing, and still more of the closer kind of instruction ; 
some of these are waiting to take the places of Professors. 
That the great luminaries should have a voice in the 



Appendix C. 539 

public teaching is quite clear. They should exercise some 
control as to the mode in which a subject is presented, and 
take care that the latest views or discoveries are duly repre- 
sented ; but whether they should themselves be the teachers 
is a question. The duties of research and of instruction are 
each enough to occupy all a man's thoughts and interests. The 
savant, to keep abreast of his subject, must read all the new 
works, and look at numberless memoirs and scientific papers. 
His business is avant tout with science ; that of the teacher is 
with his pupils, he must be familiar with the ways in which 
young people's minds act, and the difficulties in getting the 
kind of action wanted; he must understand how to keep 
interest alive, and must mistrust professions of comprehension. 
The savant and teacher are now and then, but only rarely, 
combined. 

As science extends, and education becomes more directed 
to the forming of habits of mind, the more requisite will it be 
to separate the functions of savant and of teacher. Lecturing, in 
the sense of delivering a discourse ex cathedra, differs from 
teaching in this, that it only contains one of the two essential 
elements of instruction : these are, (i) to put before the pupil 
what it is desired he should know; (2) to see that he has 
rightly got hold of what has been given him. It is for want of 
this second element that what is called the Professorial system, 
when the teaching is not catechetical, has commonly broken 
down, whenever the knowledge has had to be tested by Exami- 
nation or in any other way. 

The non-catechetical ex cathedra discourse has advantages 
for particular purposes; it partakes of the nature of preaching, 
and when a new view of a science is started, it is an effective 
means of kindling enthusiasm ; it introduces the personal ele- 
ment more effectively than a book, and a great Lecturer may 
produce a considerable sensation ; but then he must possess a 
combination of qualities which is likely to get rarer every day. 



540 Appe7idix C. 

He must be first-rate in knowledge of the matter he deals with : 
he must put himself in relation with his audience, and must 
understand what difficulties they are likely to find, a point 
in which the savafii is often deficient; finally, he must be a 
good elocutionist. When a branch of learning has passed the 
Rhetorical stage and its principles are accepted and contained 
in books, then the Professor must either dictate a Jiew book or 
see that the pupils know existing ones, or take an intermediate 
course — commenting, amending, and questioning. Only the 
first plan can be adopted in what I have called the ex cathedra 
discourse, in contrast to the catechetical lecture in which the 
pupils are questioned and which is only a higher form of 
class-teaching. I am not here speaking of experimental Lectures. 

Mathematical Lecturers, when there were no books, dic- 
tated MS. to their pupils, and German students now take 
down word for word some of these Lectures, meaning to " put 
it all in " to the " Programm " or Dissertation which they will 
one day have to write. Such dictation is not teaching at all, 
and is superseded by the multiplication of books. 

The ex cathedra Professorial Lecture, which is like the 
reading of a Dissertation, is common in Germany. Any 
number of persons can listen to it, while for a catechetical 
Lecture the class must be limited. In the Scotch Universi- 
ties the Lectures of the Professors are often catechetical, 
and are much like those that are given in the Colleges of 
the English Universities, and in the Seminariiwi of the 
German Universities, which is an establishment within the 
University for those who want to be prepared for the Exami- 
nation for the Diploma docejidi. The second function, that of 
seeifig that the pupil kjiozus what has been given him, is some- 
times performed abroad by a repetiteur, who examines the 
class in what it has received from the Professor's lips a 
day or two before. A catechetical Lecturer is in part his own 
repetiteur; but Examinations from time to time will be re- 



Appendix C. 541 

quired to supplement his questioning. A hardworking student 
may do this work for himself, he may rewrite his notes fully, 
and examine himself in what he has heard. Some persons 
find the listening to a lecture and taking notes extremely 
exhausting : those who have been used to learn from books 
feel this especially. The straining to catch the point, the dis- 
tress when an important word is missed, and the twofold action 
of the mind in attending and abridging at the same time, is 
to them very distressing. Listening to what is called a popular 
lecture, without having to give an account of it afterwards, is 
pleasant enough. 

At lectures in which experiments, or specimens, or objects 
of Art are exhibited, the student's attention is kept alive by 
what he sees or does, and he gets from the lecture the illustra- 
tions which he could not get in any other way. In Natural and 
Experimental Science, lecturing must always be the principal 
mode of teaching; and where the necessary apparatus is 
costly, or particular skill is required for experimenting, the 
teaching will be monopolized by the Professor. In this 
way certain branches of learning will be localised in Uni- 
versities. The student should not be merely passive : this is 
avoided where the Professor translates a book, also in Lectures 
bi'oken by discussions, a useful form for small classes. 

The student wants, however, not only persons who shall 
communicate portions of knowledge and afford the requisite 
appliances, but he wants continuoics direction in the way of study, 
and is much supported by feeling that some interest is taken 
in him. The weak point of German teaching, as was remarked 
to me by a Professor, is, that there is no one to direct a student 
as to what Lectures he had best attend; no one to see that 
he knows what he has been told ; and above all, no one to act 
as his mentor, or who is called on to care for him personally 
in any degree ; he is at one time attending one Lecturer, at 
another time another; neither of them knows his name, or what 



542 Appendix C. 

course of study he is pursuing. Our College system can supply 
this j the Domestic element may form a valuable supplement 
to the teaching given in the courses conducted by Professors 
and Intercollegiate Lecturers. These classes of teachers now 
work together, and furnish satisfactory courses of teaching of a 
high order. Each College should, however, provide a teacher 
to take general charge of the progress of its pupils in each 
particular branch, whose business it should be to understand 
their mental constitution, to advise them, and ascertain how 
they get on. The Pass men of course must be wholly in 
the hands of the College, for with them everything depends 
on personal influence and on their feeling that the teacher 
has an interest in them : moreover, he must be accessible, so 
that they may readily bring their difficulties to him. 

The Science Commission recommend that all the Profes- 
sors should lecture, but they cannot provide for there being any- 
body to listen to them. Some might find themselves without an 
audience, and yet they might do good work without lecturing. 
If a Professor were to call together the Lecturers in his branch 
of study once or twice a term, and inform them of anything of 
importance done in his branch of learning, or of any improve- 
ments in modes of teaching his subject, or of the views he 
wishes to see enforced, he would do good work. The actual 
teachers are too much taken up in the drudgery of their daily 
business to look far abroad ; it is only in the Vacations that 
they can carry on their own reading, and even then many have 
pupils or Examinations to attend to, so that a system exclu- 
sively in their hands would be apt to run on in the same 
lines. Here the man of matured learning, with leisure secured 
for study, should step in. 

It should be understood when a Professor is appointed 
whether he is intended for teaching, or for superintendence of 
studies and research. It would be well to have different names 
for the different offices. If he be intended to be a teacher, his 



Appendix C. 543 

income should depend in some degree on his fees. Where we 
wish a man's mental interest to be, there his pecuniary interest 
should lie also. The Professors and all endowed Lecturers 
would, I conclude, agreeably to the recommendation of the 
Cambridge Syndicate, be prohibited from taking private pupils, 
otherwise the endowment might become a mere subsidy to 
a private tutor. If research is really desired, some inducement 
must be held out to the Fellows and Professors to pursue it. 
The University might be enabled to grant a very limited 
number of Professorships Extraordinary or University Fellow- 
ships, as, in fact, good service Pensions, accompanied by 
an Honorary Degree. The prospect of these would have 
an effect. The Colleges have in a measure performed this 
function of late by awarding Fellowships to distinguished 
Professors. 

There has been lately a movement with respect to the 
Candidates for the Further Examination for the Indian Civil 
Service. It is thought desirable for the sake of social advan- 
tages that they should resort to a University, and there has 
been talk of making Professors of Indian History and Indian 
Law for their benefit, but few Candidates will attend Lectures 
of a high order. They must under heavy penalties pass an 
Examination in London in certain languages, and portions of 
Law, History, and Political Economy from specified books every 
six months ; and if they have time to spare they will spend it 
in learning the additional Oriental languages, which bring them 
a higher position on the List which governs their Seniority in 
the Service. What they want, then, is not extra means of in- 
formation, but some one to see that they know what they are set 
to learn ; this was done by those who prepared them in Lon- 
don, and they will not accept anything less immediately suited 
to their wants. So we may set up a whole staff of Professors 
in the University, but if one or two tutors make themselves 
thoroughly acquainted with the requirements of the Examina- 



544 Appendix C. 

tion, and supply just what is needed, the greater part of the 
teaching will fall into their hands. 

When a system of Examination is given, it contains impli- 
citly, rolled up in itself, the system of instruction that belongs 
to it. The case just mentioned illustrates this truth, for the 
Examination in question is most precisely laid down, and a 
corresponding system of instruction has established itself. 

No doubt the Candidates will find all they require pro- 
vided for them at. both Universities, whether the teachers 
be called Professors or not. Many, indeed, have already done 
so in the course of the last twenty years ; and if the number 
of those who resort to the Universities be increased by the 
recent regulations, arrangements for their instruction will be 
more easily made. I have touched on this point in the Preface, 
p, vi. 






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